Gaining Peace
by HarryPotter'sgirl17
Summary: Jareth had spent many years wishing he could go back to the beginning of the whole mess, but when he goes Aboveground, a whole new story unfolds that may be the key to making peace with it all...
1. Prologue

Hello all! This is my Labyrinth fic, so please be gentle with reviews!

My last name is not Henson, so the only thing that belongs to me is the plot! Enjoy

**Prologue: Above Once More**

He flew through the starry sky, keeping aloft by sheer force of will. He was looking for the house, the house were it all started, the house that turned his world upside down. Well... it wasn't the house, per se, it was what was inside the house that changed his life forever... It was a single wish, in a single act of anger, that totally toppled his kingdom, his life and his heart.

His kingdom had fallen first, almost crumbling before the girl's touch. Despite how she had complained that the Labyrinth was hard and unfair-not to him of course, to him it was 'a piece of cake'-he had never had any of the Challanged or Taken even make it past the Doors of Truth. For her to do so, even in her roundabout way, was a feat in of itself...

His life was the next to fall, not at all surprising due to the fact that he was made to really think about the fact that he 'stole' children and turned them into goblins... Her determination to get to the one she had wished away made him study the conflicting emotions she brought to him as well: It was interesting to feel something other than disdain for the first time in his life; it felt enlightening as well as encumbering, he was jealous and envious, angry and sorrowful... Who could blame him for being so cruel when he didn't even know whether he should laugh or cry when she beat his Labyrinth and saved her brother?

Last, but certainly not least, his heart fell at her feet as well. He knew that he was suppose to 'love' her, due to the story she had told her brother before her wish, but as she continued to beat every trap he set, every delaying tactic he knew, he found himself falling even more in love with her. Her kingdom was as great as his, for she had taken everything he treasured, her will was as strong as his won, for every time hers grew, his diminished...

He was surprised that a simple girl could find out the words needed to summon him when so may had tried and failed, flabbergasted that a simple girl could figure out the way through his Labyrinth, turning his subjects against him in the process, and horrified and insulted that a simple, singular girl could defeat him and take back a child he had stolen... but he couldn't find it in himself to hate her. As a matter of fact, he found himself even more determined to make this headstrong woman his Queen where others would have been left in the oubliette until the end of time.

It would have been praise worthy if her willfulness hadn't nearly brought his castle crashing down around his head...

Now he was flying over the houses that seemed to have sprouted up faster than his Labyrinth changed paths, looking for that same girl that had defied him all those-years-days?-weeks?-ago. Did that make him weak willed or did it show that he knew when to make an alliance with someone stronger than he?

He didn't know, nor did he care at the moment; right now he just concentrated on finding the house that held the girl that changed everything in the space of a few hours and trying not to pass out from blood loss before then. With all the new buildings that were dotted along the landscape and his multitude of injuries, both tasks were proving to be harder than he had first thought.

Landing on a stump in the middle of a park that looked somewhat familiar-was that a clock tower over there?-an ordinary looking owl stopped to catch its breath. To those who didn't know the coloring of the owl, not that you could see much of it under all the blood, they would think that a wild animal looking around the park was rather odd behavior.

Yet, those that knew of the story that took place years ago in nearly the exact same spot, would recognize the behavior right away. For the owl was not any ordinary owl, he was Jareth, Goblin King of the Underground, and he was looking for the girl that had called for him, only to turn around and defy him.

He was baffled that, after so many stolen children, that the one little boy that was saved had been kin to a girl who complained multiple times that his Labyrinth was 'unfair' and 'cheated' and was 'too hard', but instead of giving up and going home, she pressed forward and onward. It was as if the 'unfairness' only strengthened her resolve instead of weakening it...

_You have no power over me..._ Oh, how he hated those words! They invoked such a hatred in him that even his most dimwitted of minions knew better than to mention Sarah or how she defeated him in the Goblin King's presence. The last one that had was suddenly the Prince of the Land of Stench, his throne under the deepest part of the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Trying to keep his wobbly balance on the tree stump, the owl saw something that set his heart to racing: a young girl and sheepdog running through the other end of the park... but his spirits dropped like a stone the next second when he saw that this girl had ember colored hair, not ebony.

Making his shaky way upward again, the owl-Jareth began to search again, passing over many more houses, a solitary tree here and there, and traveled so far that his body began to scream for release. He wanted to find a branch, a chimney, the house he was looking for, **anything** just so his body would not have to fly anymore!

There!

He had finally found it, looking no different then the tens of thousands houses surrounding it, but something pulled him toward this one, something told him this one was the right one...

Sight being overcome by darkness, he swooped low peering into the window just to make sure that this was the right house and not some ploy by his beaten body to find some much needed rest.

True, the room did look different; slightly distorted, as if half the things had been moved around or simply removed... Then again, weren't humans prone to flights of fancy and changing their own lives, however small, almost daily?

Something was screaming that this was wrong, that he needed to keep flying, but he wasn't listening. He knew this was the house, he knew this was the room and he knew that, if he spoke to Sarah, he would get her to relent and be his Queen.

If his already diminished sight told him that the girl in the room also looking different, right before he smashed into the windowpane, he would just say later that he was too tired to care.


	2. Two Worlds Touch

Chapter One, coming up!

Disclaimer: Labyrinth is not mine 'cause my last name is not Henson

_Italics_ are a memory or flashback.

**Bold** are thoughts.

**Chapter One: Two Worlds Touch**

Arianna was sitting up, reading as usual. She could get through a 785-paged book in a couple of hours. Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure-you name it-she has read it. All of them, she loved, but fantasy were her favorite. Over half of the objects in her room were fantasy based. Toys and games were fine, but books were her passion. She loved being able to just sit there and travel to other worlds where no one could judge her on how she looked, what she wore or how she acted. It was like her own little slice of Heaven, plain and simple.

Arianna picked up a book at random and let her mind drift as she flipped through the pages.

Senior year was over, she had all the credits needed, and she would be starting college next fall. Arianna brushed her fiery hair away from her face, biting her lip in thought and picked up another book. The idea was scary because she had no idea what she wanted to do when she graduated. She was good with art, geography, science and that was about it. How would that help her? Design had to have a basic in mathematics and numbers were her greatest enemy. Geography could only get you so far and she did not want to be a doctor. She wanted to travel to exotic places, meet exotic people, but to do that she needed money, and a lot of it...

Arianna's musing was interrupted by the sound of something slamming against her windowpane, making her jump, not really expecting it.

Her first thought was that it was a tree branch, but that idea was quickly brushed aside, for the sound was too heavy to be a branch and there were no trees by her room to speak of. Her second thought was that one of her sisters' boyfriends had mixed up their rooms and thrown a rock at her window instead. She was still thinking along those lines when she looked up and saw the owl.

It was one messed up owl, with his feathers torn and poking out at odd angles. What she could see of its color was a snowy white tinted pink with blood. And what blood! Matted so badly, the owl was stuck to window, making it look like one of those sucker toys you have in a car. Its eyes were mismatched, one a bright sapphire and the other a deep chocolate; and they looked almost completely glazed over. Its wings were flapping feebly as it hit the window again. Arianna had the strangest feeling that it wanted to get in the house and that it purposely had hit the window. However, why would a wild creature do that?

For a wild moment, Arianna wanted to draw the owl in all its pain and glory. Something told her this was not an ordinary owl and that it was special in some way. She wanted to capture it on canvas so she could prove to herself later that it was not a dream; that this was really happening. Then her maternal instincts kicked in, telling her she had to take care of the hurt creature before it died, special or otherwise.

"Who are you looking for?" Arianna whispered, dropping her book and inching toward the window, toward the owl, "_What _are you looking for?"

The only answer she got was another feeble flap of the owl's wings and a slow blink.

Was that an answer? Did it understand her?

Arianna watched the owl's lazy movement with a mixture of sickness and pity. Pity for the owl's pain and sickness for the way its blood was leaving paint trails across her window.

Reaching toward the latch that opened the window, Arianna paused. Could she be sure that this owl would not attack her as soon as she opened the window? She heard that an animal, ANY animal, was always more vicious when they were wounded. Yet, this owl did not look like it could do more than bleed on her or whimper at her.

The owl hooted, almost as if it was egging her on, as if it was saying to hurry up and let it in.

Her hand was on the latch when something awoke in her memory, something that had happened when she picked this room for her own:

_At first, her Mama tried to convince her to take another room, but when she insisted, Mama was silent for a long while. Finally, she spoke._

_'They say that your cousin used to dream about owls visiting her in the night. In this room.'_

_'Really, Mama? What's so bad about that?'_

_'She swore they weren't dreams.'_

_'Haven't you felt like that sometimes?'_

_'Yes, but her parents didn't think so.'_

_'Is that why they moved and asked us to mind the house?'_

_'I don't know...'_

**Oh, you _did, _Ma' **thought Arianna, staring into the owl's amber eye, so human-like in its intensity, **'Why else would you not look at me when you said that?'**

"Were you the one she saw?" The window was unlocked now, "Or are you just a simple owl that got into a fight he couldn't win?"

The only answer she got was for the owl to shift his weight and make the window swing inward, barely miss Arianna's head, and getting flung into her chest, making her gasp in surprise.

Reflex made her hold onto the owl, while a voice in the back of her brain screamed at her to release it. The owl gave a small cry in protest and Arianna rearranged her grip to a less painful position, glad she was not wearing anything light.

"There," she sighed, getting a comfortable hold, "Isn't that better?"


	3. Drawing The Lines

Hey, everybody! Chapter two here! The chapters will get longer as the story progresses so please bear with me!

Disclaimer: I wish...

**Chapter Two: Drawing the Lines**

Jareth was aware that he was no longer attached to the window he had run into and that he was being held by something soft and warm. It was a nice feeling that, had he been human, would have had him sighing in relief. Instead, he simply hooted, too tired and worn out to do anything else.

He could feel a heartbeat, his along with it, steadily start to slow. It was amazing that a simple reassurance could have such a calming effect. It was something he could never understand...

Then again, maybe he did not have to.

"There now," A voice was cooing above his head, as soft hands carefully navigated around his wounds, "You're going to hurt yourself more, relax."

Not really in a position to argue, Jareth did as he was told, folding his wings as best as he could and got a good look at the person who had caught him.

The first thing he noticed, even with his foggy brain was that this _was not_ Sarah. She had red hair for instance; it flowed around her face like a fiery waterfall. Her deep emerald eyes sparkled as she regarded him with thinly veiled amusement. Her lips quirked in a playful smile.

"Not what you were expecting?"

Did she know that he was studying her? Or did she normally talk to wild animals? Deciding that the second option was the safer of the two, Jareth just gave her another low hoot.

"I didn't think so..."

This girl was extremely confusing, talking to him in this manner. He was almost certain that she thought he was a wild owl, yet some of her remarks made him almost sure she knew he was human.

She was about to get definite proof, for he could feel his grip on the owl shape slipping. He must be weaker than he thought...

Not really being the type of person to return to his natural form in the chest of an unknown girl, he began to fight to get free, flapping his wings franticly.

The girl, however, would not cooperate.

"Oh! Did I hit one of your gashes? I didn't mean to...Hey!"

The last part was a hurt yelp and Jareth felt himself being suddenly dropped. He was almost sure that he was going to hit the carpet; but, at the last second, he remembered his wings and opened them. He managed to turn his drop into a sweep and land on her bed.

Turning, he saw that one of his claws had caught her hand, leaving a deep gash. For some reason, it caused him a small spurt of shame that he had hurt her

The girl sighed as she squeezed one hand in the other, "Don't like being touched, huh?"

Instead of answering, he simply shifted.

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Arianna had been surprised, to say the least, to see the owl that had visited her cousin appearing at her window. Was it looking for her 'troubled' cousin? Why did it choose to come _now_? Why hadn't it come sooner?

Was it even the same owl?

She was even more surprised when it began to transform.

It started by turning its legs long, grow muscle and to gradually lose its claws. The claws blurred together and made toes. The next thing that happened was the human head to grow out of the owl head. It was the oddest when its beak softened and become lips. The chest melted like wax and grew into a well-muscled chest; arms growing like tree trunks from the side.

He-Arianna was _positive_ by now that the owl was a he-pulled himself out of her bed by the time his wings were settling around him to make some kind of feathery cloak, flowing in the little wind he made.

He was fully human now, hands and all. When he stood, he completely towered over her. Arianna was sure she would have been intimidated if he had not looked like a good gust of wind would blow him over and if he had not choose that moment to crumple slightly.

Watching him grab for his side kicked Arianna's senses back into gear. A guy was dying and she was ogling his body. Darting forward, hands reaching out, she was stopped by an outstretched arm

"Stop! ...I...don't...need any...help!"

Arianna's own hand dropped, "Fine, then. You can get your bleeding ass off my bed and out of my house!"

So saying, she turned and quit the room; barely catching the shape shifter's own look of surprise.

It was not until she got into the hallway with the door closed behind her did she start griping.

"I try to help this guy and how do I get repaid? He slices, _slices_, open my hand and gives me some big, bad male shit about how 'he doesn't need any help' when it looks like a two-year-old could push him over! His feather cloak, or whatever the hell that thing is. , was sticking to him, brown from dried blood! No help, my foot!"

By the time she was finished, Arianna had made it to the bathroom at the end of the hall, bandaged her hand and was putting the supplies away when she was struck with the thought that, unless she _made_ him let her help, he really _was_ going to die.

"Well, I suppose that I should help him," Arianna muttered, pulling the supplies back out, "'Two wrongs...' and all that. Unless he listened to my demand and left...Well, better to be safe than sorry..." She frowned.

"Wait a minute...Who the hell am I talking to?!?"

Shaking her head to clear it, Arianna collected everything that she needed and left the bathroom...

...and dropped everything in shock when her mother called her.

"Arianna?" Her mother called again, worried by the yelp of shock Arianna had made.

"Yeah, Ma?" Arianna concentrated on getting her breathing steady as she gathered up the dropped bandages. _In...Out...In...Out..._

"You've been awfully quiet. Are you alright?"

For a few heartbeats, Arianna considered telling her mother that an owl had flown into her window-slammed, really- landed on her bed, and had transformed into a stuck up male who looked like he got into a fight with a jaguar, a mountain lion, **and** a polar bear at the _same time_.

Then reality asserted itself.

_She would probably either say I was dreaming or that I am insane and lock me up like they probably did to the last person who saw this owl-guy..._

The thought of her pretty cousin locked up in a cage steeled the last of Arianna's nerves. She could do this, most of the blood looked old anyway.

"Yeah, Ma. I've just been reading."

"Oh...Alright, then."

_Yep, nothing to take up your time but a daughter who might be losing her mind or in a **very** convincing dream...Nothing to worry about, Ma, nothing at all..._

Out loud, Arianna simply called, "Good night, Ma" before she entered her room.

And stopped dead at the sight that greeted her.

The owl-man was half-crouched by her bed, his entire back red with blood. His cape had fallen open so she could see all the scrapes and gashes he had.

Needless to say, there were a few.

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"Who, in the name of all that's holy, did you piss off? A _giant_? _Lucifer_?!?"

The girl was back.

"If only it was that simple," Jareth groaned, trying to get up from the half-crouch he had fallen into when another wave of pain had hit him only a few minutes after the girl had left.

"Simple?!?"

"Yeah," Jareth managed to sit on the floor rather than hover over it, "I speak Giant, I could've avoided it."

The girl moved toward him with a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a snort. A few minutes later, he felt deft fingers removing his feather robe that always materialized whenever he changed from the owl to save him the embarrassment of being caught somewhere naked.

Although, it had been tempting at times...

His musings had distracted him for a moment, so he did not fully grasp what the girl was doing until a sharp pain hit his shoulder when she tried to pull the cloth over it.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Jareth demanded, grabbing at her hands, "I don't need your help or pity!"

A same flare of pink lit her cheeks before she glared at him, removed her hands from his, and snapped, "Good, because you're not getting either. I'm just making sure you don't die in my room, ok?"

"I didn't know you cared."

"I don't, didn't you hear me earlier?"

Jareth's own temper flared, "I thought you wanted my 'bleeding ass' out of your house?"

She did not back down, nor did she look embarrassed, "The offer's still sounds good to me. I am just making sure you can do it on your own. If the neighbors saw you the way you are now, they'd think I beat you up," She smirked, "You wouldn't want that bruising your ego now, would you?"

The woman was impossible! "I can heal _myself_!"

"Oh, really?' She crossed her arms and glared at him, looking like a naughty child who did not want to go to bed. He would have smiled if he had not been so angry at the moment.

"Yes, really!"

"Then way _haven't_ you?!?"

Jareth opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. Then closed it again. He tried one more time before slumping against the side of the girl's bed.

"Fine," He conceded, watching a small smile twitch at the corners of her mouth, "But only until I'm healed enough to do it on my own."

"Of course," She agreed, the smile obviously there, "Don't strain yourself now!"

"Don't worry," Jareth muttered, wincing at the cold compress on a bruised side. _Anything to get out of this torture._


	4. Hurts To Help

Chapter Four for all the waiting fans! Thanks sooooo much for the reviews!

**Disclaimer:** Still hoping...A twist of fate...Nope, not mine.

**Chapter Three: Hurts To Help**

Jareth could feel her trying to be careful around his many cuts and bruises, which surprised him after the tone she had been taking. He supposed she was just frustrated that he was not co-operating like he was frustrated that _she _was not co-operating. Yet, for all the care she put into her ministrations, he still winced every so often when she pressed on an especially nasty slash or bruise.

"Are you alright?" she asked, after he bit off a yelp of pain and surprise. Oh, how he wished he could heal without all this fuss!

He was about to snap back with a retort about having an uncaring woman beating on his side, when he looked up and caught the look in her eyes. Concern radiated from her emerald eyes like warmth from a flame. She _did _care; she cared for a complete stranger who had to be practically forced to accept help from her, even after he had sliced open her hand, accidentally. She had put up with him and was healing him as best she could with her human magic. He just had to smile.

"Fine, just fine."

"Are you sure?" She asked, pressing on his side again, making him wince once more.

Damn her! Just when he was relaxing around her, she goes and does something that makes him put his guard up! Did she _really_ not want him to be friendly with her?

"I'm _fine_." came out somewhat smothered, on account of him having his teeth clenched.

"Fine, then," she replied, bringing out a cotton ace bandage, "You're a bit of a tight-ass, aren't you? Don't you know how to lighten up?"

"And you, madam, are the epitome of good manners!" He snapped back, rubbed by the 'tight-ass' comment. Sure, he was a little _formal_, but no one would call him _stiff!_

She grinned, "Mister, if you're looking for well brought-up ladies, you're in the wrong house!"

"And _you're_ mistaken if you think I need any more of your _help_!"

The girl simply shrugged, apparently not convinced, and proved it by giving him a sharp poke in the side. He yelped before he could even stop it, causing a knowing grin to grow across her face. Jareth grinded his teeth even more; what was it about this girl that got his edge up? He usually made woman melt like putty, but every girl from this house seemed to just frustrate or plain piss him off!

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He really was a _grouch_! She was just trying to make sure his scrapes were not that serious (and yes, take him down a few pegs) and he acts as if she insulted his mother! The guy really needed to lighten up...

And, speaking of lighten up, her toes were starting to tingle from blood loss. Sitting in that crouched position for so long _was not_ a very good idea, and her body was screaming at her to get up and _do_ something about it...

Arianna stood stretched, her muscled cramped from sitting so long and not moving or shifting her weight. Groaning, she stretched higher, popping muscles that had been strained from sitting on her knees, "Damn it that hurts..."

"What are you doing?" Looking down, Arianna saw that Owl-man had watched her stretching routine with a look in his eyes that she could not quite place, "Why are you doing that?"

"Why, does it bother you?" Arianna reached skyward, watching Magic-man's eyes follow the curves of her body, from the tip of her toes to the fingers clenched over her head. On a sudden inspiration, she curved her body in a beckoning, seductive matter...Or as close as she could get on her first try, "Or do you..._like_ it?"

Owl-man simply answered by snapping his stare away from her to the floor-but not before she caught a very light blush on his cheeks-and to answer with a gruff, "Of course not!"

Arianna dropped her arms, her own blush working across her face. She was a little surprised; for, since he could not meet her eyes, she was pretty sure he liked it a lot more than he was saying. Glad for the temporary reprieve to get her blush under control, she did not bait him with her new knowledge.

After a few moments, he asked, "Really, what was that? That thing you did with your body? It looked like you want to touch the sky while still on the ground, or in the throes of a-"

At this, he suddenly broke off, now even turning his head away from her, "Never mind. Will you just tell me _what_ that was?"

_In the throes of...what?_

Arianna dropped back down beside him as she replied, "It's called a stretch, and you do it when your body feels cramped or tired."

"Really...? I have never felt like that before. When you can heal as well as I can, you don't get 'cramps' or-" He broke off at the look on Arianna's face, "What is it? What did I do?"

"You just said something funny, Ma- Just something funny, that's all." _I wish I knew what to call him..._

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_I...made a joke...?_

"You got a name?" Jareth looked up from the small hands on his stomach to the large emerald eyes regarding him curiously, "I mean, I'm not going to have to call you 'Guy' or 'Hey, you!' am I?"

"Yes, I've got a name, just like any other human being!" Jareth snapped, disgusted that she was treating him like a child, and still embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her while she 'stretched'.

After muttering something that sounded like 'Oh, _really_?' she asked, "Well?"

"Well, what?"

She sighed, and said, as if he was hard of hearing and/or childishly slow, "What-is-your-name? What-do-they-call-you?"

Jareth would not have been surprised if the top of his head was steaming with all of the rage he was suppressing. It was as if the last few minutes had not even _happened_! "I can speak perfectly well! Stop treating me like a child!"

The girl grabbed the sides of his head, brought her face inches from his, and nearly shouted, "Then stop acting like a spoiled brat and tell me your name! Geez! It's not _that_ hard!"

It was funny, but when she grabbed his head and brought it level with her own, he caught a strange scent of lilac and mint that made it hard to think; so his response came out more flustered than he would have liked, "J-Jareth...My name is Jareth."

Smiling, the girl brought her head closer, so that they were literally eye-to-eye, "I _knew_ there was some decency in there somewhere! You found it! Good for you!"

Jareth half expected her to pat his head like a dog; so, in order to delay such a degrading action, he grabbed both her hands and turned his head so they were once more face to face. "Maybe you could return the favor and tell me _your_ name?"

Her face turned a light pink, which was rather becoming, as she squeaked, "You want to know my name? Really?"

He was about to snap back her own words, that he couldn't very well call her 'You' or 'Girl' but the look on her face stopped him. It was such a surprised and earnest expression that he simply replied, "Yes, I would like to know your name."

Her face soften, the blush darkened to a deeper hue, as she replied, "Arianna. Ari to my friends. You can call me Ari, if you want."

His hands had slipped down, from hers on his head, to the crook of her elbows as he replied, "Arianna... It suits you..."

Her hands had also slipped; they were now resting on his shoulders as she leaned in, "Really?"

Moreover, to his surprise, he was leaning in as well, "Really..."

Jareth also was not surprised that she was keeping her eyes open, for the whole thing felt like a dream...and he was not ready for the dream to end.

_"Jareth!"_

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I looooove cliffies, don't you? HeeHee... Backs away from murderous looks. Please do not kill me!


	5. Revelations

**Chapter Four: Revelations**

Arianna was barely breathing; this whole thing had to be some kind of dream. She was just fighting with Jareth-that was such an interesting name- and the next minute, he was looking at her in a way she had never been looked at before. A look that promised hidden pleasures and afternoon delights, a look that sent a pleasant chill through her bones.

"Arianna… It suits you…"

His voice had gone soft, _tender_ almost, a velvet edge that caressed places that she never even had touched before. Her breath was coming in little gasps as his thumb gently traced her cheek before sliding down her arm and pulling her close.

It was so different from his usual brash attitude that Arianna was unsure what to do with this Jareth, this man that now held her in her lap as if she was a precious gem, yet she was aware of an intense heat settling in her lower abdomen and a complete inability to form any coherent thought as his eyes locked with hers.

Her lids were lowering of their own accord as he breathed her name against her skin, causing her to shiver slightly, as another slow, intense wave of heat flew over her body. She was now feeling very warm and had no idea why…

They moved together, almost as if they shared a brain, a desire, almost as if they both wanted that moment so intensely that they could not wait another minute to prolong the inevitable: A kiss taken in the midst of a heated moment.

"_Arianna_!"

The cry echoing from the hall caused both of them to leap apart as if scalded with a hot poker. Arianna was noticed a look of frustration on Jareth's face, which she didn't understand, before the voice called out again, making her start once more.

"Arianna?" The voice was coming even closer, causing Arianna to jump once more before she grabbed Jareth by the arm and dragged him to her closet, which was ajar.

"Stay here!" She hissed, closing the door on his astonished face, not bothering to explain, for there was no time. No time to explain, nor talk.

She couldn't ask him to explain why he looked so frustrated or what had just happened; although it left her with a disappointed feeling that was a hard lump in her stomach, an ache that begged to be fulfilled. It was so powerful that she almost turned back around, pull Jareth back out of the closet and envelop him into _her_ arms….

Shaking her head, Arianna knew she had to focus, even though Jareth had this insane ability to invade her thoughts when she was trying to hide him. This was no time for daydreaming!

She had to get to the door before whoever was there came through; she had to get there before they saw Jareth, because there was no way she could explain how he got in her room without getting into a heap of trouble or sounding like a nut job.

"Are you asleep in there?" The voice was coming from outside her door now, causing Arianna to leap across the bed, snagging her foot on the bed sheets, and to tumble in front of it as soon as the door was opened, revealing her mother.

Jareth simply sat there, with a look of utter bewilderment etched on his features, unable to comprehend how he had ended up inside a closet and ordered to silence by a girl he had almost kissed after spending the last half hour yelling at or about.

After spending the next few minutes trying to formulate some sort of reasonable explanation for the bizarreness that transpired, Jareth shook his head, gave up, and tried to follow the only thing he could understand: The need for silence

As he stood, stuffed between a slightly opened shelf and a rack of clothing, Jareth was aware of two things; that Arianna loved the color blue, and that he could hear a muted conversation going on a few feet away from him.

"Are you alright?" The first voice was female and sounded like it was caught between concern and amusement.

The second voice giggled nervously, identifying herself as Arianna, before gabbing, "Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine? I'm fine…"

Twisting slightly, Jareth could see out of the closet and noticed that the first speaker appeared to be Arianna's mother: She had the same fiery hair, although hers had streaks of silver dancing through it; her eyes were a deep amber and she was looking at her daughter with a definite look of suspicion as she continue to babble on about how 'fine' she was.

_Calm down!!_ For the briefest of instances, Jareth thought he said the words aloud, for Arianna jumped and half turned toward him before she snapped back around to face her mother once more. As he pondered this new irregularity, Arianna took a deep breath and visibly relaxed.

"…you just startled me, that's all." Arianna finished, taking another deep breath.

"I can see that," Her mother's lips twisted into a half-grin as she watched her daughter collect herself. "I just wanted to check up on you, you've been awful quiet…"

"I've just been reading," Arianna was quick to confirm as she wandered over to her dresser and picked up one of the many books sitting there. "You know how I get when I read."

"Yes, I know." Her mother smiled for real this time. "I'm surprised that I didn't have to take the book away this time!"

"I had just finished," Arianna seemed uncomfortable lying to her mother, her shoulders kept twitching every time she did. "You know how much I loved this one."

Her mother's smile grew even bigger and was somehow warmer, the look of a doting parent. Jareth found himself remembering his own mother as he looked at her…

"Of course I do, you told me every day for a week after you read it. I believe that's why I brought it for you!"

Arianna laughed and enveloped her mother in a hug. "You always knew how to make me feel special…"

Jareth tuned out, feeling like he intruded on a very private moment. Arianna obviously loved her mother very much and it felt like he should at least let her keep that to herself after he barged into her room, or rather _fell_ into her room…

When he turned back, her mother had left the room and Arianna had turned toward him, so he could see she was stroking the book in her hands with a loving expression on her face. He decided this that was as good a time as any to exit the closet.

_My mother is the greatest! _Arianna smiled, stroking **Strange Beasts of the Imagination**, remembering the day she had received it…

It had been her birthday and she had been feeling a little down, as surprising as that may have seemed for a birthday girl. Her mother had told her the day before that, due to bills and house payments, she couldn't afford to celebrate her birthday until next week.

Arianna had been upset, but decided that a late birthday would be better than no birthday at all. She told her mother that was fine and she understood, going about her day as usual.

On her birthday, Arianna had awoken early, feeling that something was going to happen. Minutes later, her sister had walked in with a pleasant surprise: Breakfast in bed!

"You must really like that book."

Startled out of her happy daydream, Arianna let out a little yelp of surprise, dropping her book before she realized it was Jareth who spoke.

"You keep doing that your mother will come back here and I really don't want to be stuffed in a closet again." Jareth had a soft, teasing smile planted on his face that took Arianna totally by surprise.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Arianna asked as she bent to retrieve her book, slightly worried that whatever that happened before her mother had come in would happen again. "Why aren't you all 'I'm a selfish prig who doesn't need your help' guy?"

Jareth's customary frown had found its way back to his face and Arianna was both pleased and upset that it was there. But why both…?

"Are we just going to pretend that what happened between us wasn't even happening?"

"What happened?" Arianna was confused, what _had_ happened? What _didn't_ happen? So much had gone on that the last hour was a complete jumble.

"You know what happen!" Jareth snapped, grabbing her by the arm and momentarily scaring her. _Stop side-stepping the question!_

There it was again! Arianna immediately lost all her fear. "How are you doing that?"

"What?" It was Jareth's turn to look confused, to seem like he had no clue as to what was going on.

"I can hear what you're thinking," No response caused Arianna to press on, "Earlier you were thinking that I should calm down and just now you wanted me to stop avoiding the question…"

Jareth had dropped her arm and was looking at her with an expression of total shock as he whispered, "No… It can't be…"

"Jareth?" Arianna reached out a hand, for it looked as if he was about to fall over. To her surprise, he grabbed it in a vice-like grip.

"Can you hear what I'm thinking now?" The intensity of Jareth gaze was frightening her, but Arianna tried to listen before shaking her head.

"What about now?"

Arianna was about to ask what was going on before she heard the whisper of a thought that made her blush as it grew in volume.

"You thought that my hair was as bewitching as a flame, my eyes as bright as emeralds, my skin as pale as moonlight, my-Jareth!"

But he didn't hear the chastisement, nor did he see the growing redness spread across her face and down to the anatomy that he had just been praising. Jareth was too wrapped up in the discovery he had just made.

Arianna was a Minida, a mind reader. She could hear his thoughts as easily as if he had spoken them out loud. Apparently, she was only strong enough to hear thoughts that had powerful emotions behind them and not random thoughts. She also only seemed to be able to hear his thoughts, which pleased him for some strange reason…

"I can really do that?" Jareth focused on Arianna's face, surprised to see a look of terror etched on her features. The arm that he had dropped had raised and her hand had gripped his in fear, "How is that possible?"

"What's going on?" Arianna had started to shake as tears flowed down her cheeks, her voice growing higher and higher as she continued. "Why can I read your mind? Why just _your_ mind, and not my mother's? Is something happening to me? Am I going to change into some kind of _freak_? _What is going on_??"

Instead of answering, Jareth pulled her close, seeing the need for comfort in her eyes. Her body started to stop shaking as he gently stroked her back, muttering words of comfort.

After a few whispered words, Arianna finally calmed down and pulled away, causing Jareth to experience a sense of loss that he had no explanation for. It made him want to pull her back into his arms and kiss her fears away…

"Why is this happening to me?" Arianna voice was steadier, breaking into Jareth's thoughts, and she was in no means deterring in her need of knowing what was going on. "_What_ is happening?"

Jareth was at a loss of words; he had no idea what to tell her, yet Arianna was looking at him so desperately he knew he had to say _something_, or else she would dissolve into a hysterics that he couldn't pull her out of, no matter how hard he would try.

"I don't know," Arianna's whole body tightened in fear, causing Jareth to hurriedly continue, "Yet, I _do_ know this: I will help you find out and help you control it. I will be right by your side the entire time. I will make sure that nothing happens to you and that you will never live with this kind of fear again. Even if you _do_ turn into 'some kind of freak', you'll still be the beautiful Arianna you are now, and that's good enough for me."

Arianna had lost her fear and her eyes were filled with an emotion that Jareth rarely saw and therefore could not identify. She had moved back into his embrace, arms wrapped around his neck, and nestled against his shoulder with a content sigh.

"Thank you, thank you so much…"

Arianna cuddled even closer to Jareth, the need to feel warmth was overwhelming in a body that was suddenly plunged in icy fear. He seemed to have no objections and pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair.

Tracing scars on Jareth's stomach, Arianna felt all her fear beginning to melt away. Not only had she just acquired a new skill that, at first, scared her, now she understood it and accepted it, she found out her cousin was telling the truth. The best part? She had her own bit of magic, something she had never know she was seeking, as well as a teacher to help her control it.

The better part? He was dead sexy.

"I'm sorry that this is happening," Jareth's voice was slightly muffled, causing her to jump and blush as if _he _could read _her_mind. She slowed her heart rate and tried to pay attention to what he was saying, "Yet, I'm glad that it did. Can you understand that?"

"Yes," Arianna whispered, feeling another rush of warmth similar to the one she felt t his earlier words. It was as if she was enveloped in a golden bubble of security; she felt safe and loved. "It's almost as if we were fated to meet… Do you think that's possible?"

"I stopped believing in fate a long time ago," Jareth's voice had taken a steely edge to it, almost a deathly note, causing Arianna to pull back so she could see his face.

His eyes were clenched tight, almost as tight as his hands were now gripping her, his face twisted in anger and his teeth were clenched as if in pain. When e noticed she was looking at him, he turned his face away.

"Jareth?" Arianna moved away slightly to reach up and caress his face, only to have him flinch away from her touch. She pulled even further away, trying to get him to look at her. "Jareth, what is it?"

"Nothing," His voice had lost his warmth as he pulled away as well. His back was to her as he continued, "It just brought up some bad memories, that's all."

Feeling she should drop the subject, yet unable to see him in so much pain, Arianna reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, watched his back thrum like a taunt string before dropping it. What was so bad that he couldn't abide her touch, when only moments before he swore her being a monster wouldn't drive him away?

"Jareth-"

"Would you leave me alone? I don't need you to mother me!" He still wouldn't look at her and that bothered Arianna more than anything else, at least, until his next words followed. "Why do you always have to solve everything? I don't need you, or your help!" _Just go away!!_

It was as effective as him slapping her; Arianna reeled from the force of both his physical and mental anger, feeling her security crumbling around her. What had happened that made him lash out so violently? What was he keeping from her? Why couldn't she be trusted…?

Feeling tears building at the corners of her eyes, Arianna listened to Jareth's last, silent demand and left the room.

Jareth listened to the door slam behind Arianna's retreating form and mentally cringed.

_Smooth, Jareth, first you say you'll never leave her side, then you shove her away._

_**She shouldn't have been prying into my life.**_

_She was trying to help! She's starting to care about you; did you expect her to do nothing?_

_**She's better off not caring about me.**_

_Just because you cut off your feelings after Sara left-_

"Shut up!" In his anger, Jareth said the words out loud. Holding his breath, Jareth listened for running footsteps, voices demanding why he was in Arianna's room, but he heard only silence.

Exhaling, Jareth put his head in his hands. _**Great, I'm yelling at myself.**_

_It's because you know Arianna won't do it for you._

Growling, Jareth gave up his mental battle and edged out of Arianna's room to try and figure out were she went. He had to apologize and see if she would forgive him.

The answer of Arianna's whereabouts came to him as he was walking down the hallway; a cold blast of wind hit his midsection and, looking for the source, Jareth saw the front door wide open, swinging on its hinges.

"Oh, great." Jareth muttered, dashing to the door and watching Arianna's form disappearing between the herds of houses. "This is just perfect."

_That's what you get for snapping at someone who was trying to help you!_

"And you can just shut up," Jareth snapped, following Arianna as closely as he could.

You had to give it to the girl; she knew how to cover distances, for, almost as if she knew she was being followed, Arianna chose to dodge and duck past gates and under awnings. Jareth, not used to traveling by foot, had a hard time keeping up.

Panting, Jareth realized they had ended up at the park where he first saw Sara… back when she thought him an ordinary owl… before she made that wish and met the Goblin King.

Breathing heavily as well, Arianna slumped against the very log he had perched on years before, head in her arms, which were resting on her legs. It was almost as if she could hear his thoughts, which she _could_, but he was too far away… wasn't he?

Testing out his theory, Jareth concentrated as hard as he could on sending thoughts of sorrow and regret toward Arianna, as well as a need for forgiveness. However, Arianna simply sat there, her gaze locked on the forest at the edge of town.

_**Damn it!!**_

_She'll forgive you, all you have to do is walk over there and tell her you're sorry._

_**Why do you keep bothering me?**_

_Because I know how upset you are, but you are the type of person that needs a little nudge before he apologizes._

_**You don't know anything about me!**_

_Of course I do, I'm in your head, after all._

Jareth was on the verge of telling that nagging voice in his head to shut up again, when movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Hello everybody!! It's been a while, huh? I'm sorry for the gaps, live has a real negative way of biting you in the ass.

Well, anyway, here is the next chapter and tomorrow you will get chapter five!

Read and review, please!


	6. Jealous?

**Chapter Five: Jealous?**

To recap:

Jareth was on the verge of telling that nagging voice in his mind to shut up again, when a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

The form was started as only a vague shadow, then grew to a formless blob before becoming the sketchy outline of a bulky human.

Arianna had leapt to her feet when the form first appeared and now stood transfixed, staring at the shadow as it came closer.

Once more, Jareth tried to make Arianna notice he was there. _Run! Don't just stand there!!_ Yet she just stood there, frozen, watching as the human came closer...

"Why does a nightingale fly from it's nest?"

Arianna started at these words before visibly relaxing. "To sing it's song to the world."

Jareth was totally bewildered at this exchange and was even more shocked when Arianna ran up and hugged the figure as he-his voice gave away that he was male-approached, causing a spurt of unknown anger to settle in his gut.

"Thanks for not scaring me," Arianna giggled, causing Jareth's anger to go up a notch.

"You looked upset and I was worried that you might direct that anger at me before you cooled down a little bit." The boy tightened his grip on Arianna's shoulders, filling Jareth with an uncontrollable urge to rip his arms off.

"Yeah," Arianna huffed, pulling away from the boy and settling back against the stump, causing Jareth to exhale in relief. "Some guys can be real jerks!"

In his hiding place, Jareth cringed, hearing that Arianna's anger hadn't fully died away and that it was mixed with hurt now, as well.

The boy entered into the moonlight, causing Jareth to finally get a good look at the guy that Arianna was so friendly with.

He was at least a foot taller than she was, with auburn hair and a worker's build; his tight T-shirt showed off his muscles in a way most girls would fawn over, but just made Jareth sick to his stomach. With his enhanced sight, Jareth also noticed that he had icy blue eyes that were looking at Arianna in a way Jareth just _did not_ like.

"Am I one of those guys?"

Arianna smiled up at the _child_ and Jareth had to fight off the urge to vomit. "No, you've never been one of those guys, Mike."

Mike had dropped down beside her, and placed an arm around her shoulders, causing an anger even greater than the one before to hit Jareth and to make him leave his hiding place.

"So what has made you so negative to my gender?" Mike asked, unknowing that Jareth was about to wipe that self-centered smirk off his face.

"A guy, of course." Arianna replied, stopping Jareth's march of rage. "A self-centered, arrogant son of a bitch! I just want to strangle him, that two-faced-"

"I get the point," Mike laughed, the sound grating on Jareth's nerves as he resumed his march, "What exactly did this guy do?"

Arianna sighed and suddenly began crying on Mike shoulder, causing Jareth to stop once more, only this time he called out her name.

"Arianna!"

Arianna jumped up out of Mike's embrace and turned around to see Jareth stomping toward them, still clad in only his pants and murder in his eyes.

She moved forward and to the left slightly, unconsciously shielding Mike from the approaching madman, causing his frown to deepen and his step to quicken.

"Who the hell is this?" The warm flare that Arianna felt upon seeing Jareth was immediately over placed by a rush of anger as Jareth _pushed_ past her and went toe-to-toe with Mike, glaring him straight in the eye.

Arianna's temper flared and _she_ pushed by _Jareth_ this time, and glared at him as he looked at her in surprise. "He's my best friend, not that it's any of your business!"

Jareth blinked at her a few times before he regained his composure and glared past her at Mike. "It is my business if you go gallivanting off in the middle of the night to meet a guy!"

"I take it this is the 'self centered, arrogant son of a bitch' you were talking about?" Mike smirked behind Arianna, making Jareth review everything he knew about pain, "I can see why you're mad at him; he sounds like your mom."

Arianna wasn't expecting the sudden lunge from Jareth and was shoved, painfully, to the ground as he pushed past her and grabbed a hold of Mike's shirt.

Mike was ready for him, however, and jabbed him as hard as he could in the gut and right on one of the bandages Arianna had previously wrapped, dropping him rather effectively.

"Someone in your condition shouldn't go around picking fights." Mike looked down to where Jareth was sprawled and noticed that Arianna was on the ground next to him. "Are you alright?"

"Better than him," Arianna replied, her initial anger being replaced by concern. "You shouldn't have done that."

"The jerk had it coming," Mike stubbornly defended, watching as Jareth fought to breathe and stand up as Arianna pushed him back down.

"Well, you shouldn't have hit him so hard." Arianna conceded, trying to figure out how bad Jareth was hurt. "Hold still, you!"

Jareth continued to try to stand, glaring up at Mike the entire time. Arianna sighed and motioned for him to sit in one of the park benches and Mike, still smirking, went... but not without a final jab.

"Make sure you patch him up real good, Arianna! We wouldn't want his ego to get any more bruised!"

Jareth made to lunge again but Arianna grabbed him and sat on his lap, making any kind of moment impossible.

"Finally," Arianna sighed again as Jareth decided to hold still. "After all this time, we are back to this again: You being a selfish prig and me trying to bandage you up."

Jareth was about to retort, then he closed his mouth, hung his head, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

"What?" Arianna honestly thought she was hearing things; Jareth, the man who needed no help from anyone, was apologizing? To her?

"I said I was sorry," He really _did_ say it, though it looked like he was regretting the action. "For yelling at you and hurting you. I never wanted that to happen."

Arianna was blinking so rapidly that Jareth was about to tell her she looked like an owl when she bowed her head and became very focused on making sure his wounds hadn't reopened.

"I'm sorry too." Arianna whispered, gently stroking the place where Jareth was hit, making him wish he were more feline. "I shouldn't have been prying, I only did it because I l-l-like you and wanted to help."

Jareth looked down at her, but she kept her gaze on his stomach, stubbornly refusing to meet his eyes and still stroking that one spot with the tips of her fingers.

They sat like that in silence for a while, longer than necessary to give someone a look over, yet neither wanted to be the first to break the awkward stillness.

Mike, however, decided to take matters into his own hands. "Have you two lovebirds stopped fighting yet?"

The response from Arianna was instantaneous, almost as if she had been waiting for him to speak. Her gentle hand dropped from Jareth's stomach, much to his dismay, as she glared at her 'best friend' and snapped, "Would you mind your own business?!?"

"It's kinda hard with you two almost making out three feet from me!" Mike retorted, giving Jareth one of the most condescending grins he ever received from a human, raising the hair on the back of his neck and effectively raising his ire once again.

He was about to snap that he could 'make out' with whoever he damned well pleased when Arianna's angry voice cut across his.

"I've already got to deal with one pain in the ass, don't tell me I've acquired a new one!" The jibe simply made the _child _smile wider and shrug his shoulders.

"I live to please," That simple comment would've had Jareth punching the arrogance off of the self satisfied _speck's_ face if Arianna wasn't in his way, so he settled for glaring at him from his place on the ground, thinking that he could teach that _punk_ a few things about pleasing a woman.

"Jareth! I-" A sudden crash of thunder cut off whatever remark Arianna was going to make and had them all looking up at the darkening sky, thick with heavy rainclouds.

"There was nothing about rain in the news..." Mike mused as the first couple of raindrops began to fall. "It sure sprung up fast."

Arianna threw her arms over her head n a futile gesture to keep the rain off. "Well, it's raining now. We better get inside somewhere."

"My house is closest," Mike supplied, missing how Jareth's face was contorting as he fought a losing battle on weather to just go along quietly or rip Mike's head off.

Arianna decided for him. "That's a good idea, I don't have a change of clothes and I'm pretty sure you guys wouldn't mind if my shirt got wet, but I do."

At her last comment, Arianna caught a trace of a thought coming from Jareth that made her glad it was dark and that Mike was too focused on making it through the rain without getting totally soaked to pay much attention to her.

Pulling Jareth back a bit, so that there was some distance between Mike and them, Arianna hissed, "Stop thinking things like that! Did you forget I can _hear_ you??"

Once more taking her by surprise, Jareth tugged Arianna to his side, murmuring, "Maybe I _want_ you to hear them..."

Ignoring the way her body responded to his touch, Arianna pulled away. "You need to stop doing that, Jareth. It isn't funny and it hurts that you think you can treat me like that."

"What? What am I doing?" It wasn't fair that he looked handsome even when he was confused; it only made it easier for him to gain her sympathy.

"Playing with my emotions," Arianna replied, moving out of Jareth's embrace and putting some distance between them, "First, you come on all hot and heavy, then you could give Mr. Freeze some pointers. You need to make up your mind on how you feel before you get all cozy with me again."

"I apologized, didn't I?"

"That's not the point!" Frustrated and confused, Arianna broke away from Jareth and ran to catch up with Mike, who had stopped to see what the all commotion was about.

"Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay?!?" Arianna snapped, causing Mike to flinch at her hostility and making her feel ashamed she let her anger out on him. "I'm sorry, I just need to get out of the rain and some time to myself to think."

"Well, we're almost to my house and my parents are out, so we don't have to explain why I picked up a girl and a half-naked guy on my way home."

Mike's attempt at humor worked; Arianna giggled at the image of Mike trying to explain Jareth and her appearance to his parents. His mother would be mildly interested while his father would believe all kinds of strange things.

"There's the smile I was looking for," Mike said, grinning himself as Arianna wiped tears from her eyes from her suppressed laughter.

"Thanks, Mike." Arianna turned to smile at her friend, and was a little surprised to see a light blush on his cheeks, "You always know how to cheer me up."

"Yeah, well..." His blush grew in size as well as color and, for once, he didn't have a snappy comeback to give. "I just hate seeing you so depressed, that's all."

Arianna sighed, wishing that the guy she had feelings for felt the same way Mike did. Then again, maybe he did, but with the way he had been acting it was hard to tell. How could she fall for someone so confusing?

"Now you're depressed again!" Mike's smile had twisted into a frown as he stopped in front of a gate. "What are you thinking about that's got you so down?"

"He's behind us," Arianna replied sourly as Jareth's footsteps sounded behind them. "Don't ask, cause I don't know."

"Are we there yet? I'm soaked!" Jareth's complaint cut across Mike's question and, for the first time in a while, Arianna was glad that he was there.

"Yes," With a sweeping motion, Mike indicated the house they were in front of, "We're home."

_Not my home! _Jareth thought sullenly as he surveyed the house they had stopped at.

It was, in the simplest terms, a mansion. It seemed to be comprised of three stories and all of the windows were of white crystal or stained glassed scenes of battles and mythological creatures. It was hard to tell what color the house was in the pouring rain, but it was a dark color that covered the entire house, including the trim around the windows. It gave the impression that the windows were set in stone.

"What a morbid place," Jareth cringed, wishing he could take the words back. For, although that was his impression of the place, as soon as the words had left his mouth, Arianna had shot him one of the angriest expressions he had seen on her.

For now.

"Wait 'til you see the inside," Mike replied with a cheerfulness that Jareth could only describe as overly childish. "For one thing, it's a whole lot dryer!"

"That's got my vote!" Arianna replied, pushing through the gate and heading to the house with Mike at her heels.

Growling under his breath, Jareth quickened his pace to catch up with them while trying to find a way to get Arianna alone so that he could talk to her.

She was right when she said that he wasn't being clear on how he felt about her. Jareth was ashamed to admit he treated Arianna like a lover one minute, then turned around and treated her like she was just his nurse the next.

It also vexed him that he didn't admit it, at least to himself, that Arianna was important to him until that boy, that immature _child_, showed up and started to intervene. It had taken almost losing her to admit that he wanted her. He really was a selfish prig...

"Are you gonna stand in the rain all day?" Mike had appeared at Jareth's elbow, testing his self control as he smirked at him. "Arianna has already gone inside to call her mother."

"What does it matter if I do?" Jareth snapped, not really wanting to deal with Mike's conceited attitude right then.

"Feeling sorry for yourself?" Mike ducked the fist that was swung at him before continuing, "It's Arianna you should feel sorry for; she's a mess because of you!"

Looking down at the finger stabbing his chest, Jareth was hit by another wave of guilt before anger that Mike was telling him what he should be feeling overthrew it and he shoved Mike's hand away.

"I don't need you to lecture me!"

Mike's eyes narrowed and he took another step closer, so now Jareth was literally nose-to-nose with the boy. "Arianna is my best friend, almost like a sister, and I'm not going to watch her sulk around because of a prick like you!"

Jareth pushed the boy away, feeling far beyond angry now; the fact that he had treated Arianna like dirt being rubbed in his face was making him feel worse and, since he had no idea what to do with these new emotions, he lashed out.

Arianna hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief. She had managed to catch her mother before she noticed that Arianna was missing and explained that she would be visiting with Mike for a while, but would be back for dinner. Her mother was slightly upset that she had left without asking, but was glad Arianna at least told her where she went.

Resting her forehead on the table the phone was on, Arianna tried to figure out what to do about her other problem: Jareth.

Despite the fact that she had no idea what was going in his head, Arianna knew that she was growing feelings for him, as amazing as that was in the few hours that she knew him, but happening all the same.

Raising her head, Arianna slammed her fist on the table and cursed the fact that she couldn't fall for a nice, uncomplicated guy instead of getting involved with a man that confused her as much as he entranced her. What was wrong with her?

Pushing herself from the table, Arianna went to ask Mike if she could take a hot shower while her clothes were dried. The hot water would cool her nerves, warm her up, as well as giving her the privacy to sort some things out that still bothered her.

Not being able to find him in the living room or kitchen, Arianna went to the hallway to make sure that Jareth wasn't giving Mike any more trouble; but found neither boy, only a wide open door and a growing puddle of water on the rug.

"Oh, no..." Arianna hurried back out into pouring rain, down the walkway and past the gate she had entered minutes before to see a sight that almost made her scream in frustration.

Tussling on the ground, muddied and bloodied, were Jareth and Mike, fighting for all they were worth. They were so involved in their battle that they almost rolled over Arianna a few times, causing her to bump painfully into the gate.

"Will you two STOP BEING IDIOTS?!?" Her voice made them look up, expressions unreadable under all the mud, but she could tell they were upset because their shoulders were slumped and they jumped apart as soon as they untangled themselves.

"You are acting like a pair of spoiled brats fighting over a toy!" Arianna hissed, so that even under their mud, she could see that they were looking ashamed, "I don't belong to _either_ of you and I will not have this stupid pissing contest continue!"

"It was his fault," Jareth was quick to inform her, shoving Mike as he got. "I don't need to be told-"

"It was not!" Mike interrupted angrily, shoving Jareth away as he also sprang to his feet. "_You_ are the one who-"

Glad of the fact that the rain hid her tears, Arianna made a noise of frustration before spinning around and darting back into the house.


	7. Forgiveness

Chapter Six: Forgiveness

Jareth and Mike were standing in the puddle of growing mud sludge, soaked to the skin and feeling utterly wretched as they watched Arianna flee into the house. Both sat there for a few minutes as they mentally berated themselves for fighting with a complete ass and made a silent vow to make it up to Arianna before moving forward at the exact same time.

Growling at the simultaneous movement, both boys tried to stare down the other before sniffing-or growling again, in Jareth's case-and following the distraught redhead into the house.

Unfortunately, Arianna made it into the house before they did, causing them to speed up in hopes of catching her before she got too far ahead.

Too little too late.

A quick search of the bottom floor brought them no sign of the disgruntled girl and the second floor was bare of clues as well, causing tension to rise between the two and tempers to boil.

"How many floors does this crypt have?" Jareth snapped, nerves stretched to the breaking point wondering where Arianna had gone and if she still hated him.

"It's called a house, idiot." Mike replied shortly, also worried as to where his friend had gone and how he could make this mess better. "We have three floors, including the basement; each with at least twenty rooms, so it's going to take some time to search them all."

"Why do you have so many rooms? It seems a bit unneeded." Jareth fumed, too many rooms meant too many places for Arianna to hide...

From him.

"Because we felt like it, alright?" Mike barked, pushing past the older man, for it was either that or punch the lights out of him. "Let's split up, alright? I look back to make sure we didn't miss her, you look on this floor."

Without another word, Mike made his way back to the bottom floor in hopes of finding Arianna, apologize, and try to convince her to see that arrogant asshole for what he really was. It was _his_ fault that she was so upset, stupid bastard didn't know what kind of treasure he had, that self absorbed...

Jareth headed off in the opposite direction, his thoughts surprisingly in tune with the boy that had just brushed by him, despite how vehemently he disliked the child. He knew that Arianna was hurt, he knew who was to blame as well as who had to fix it. He only hoped it wasn't too late.

It was funny that his last thought was also the same as the child. Although, being who he was, he wished he found her so that he could get _Mike_ off her mind.

--

Arianna was sprawled against a wall, she wasn't even sure were _she _was, let alone where the other _two_ were, crying her eyes out over a couple of hotheads who she was sure were still out in the yard, fighting like dogs.

Not that she cared, not one bit. It didn't matter that they made her feel like she had no say in her own damn life, that she was just a bauble that they could fight over, that she had no feelings of her own...

Choking off a sob as a new bout of tears flowed, Arianna shook her head angrily as she tried to stop the unending flow of sadness that washed over her in waves, causing a low ache in her chest to grow by the minute.

_I'm an idiot, a complete and utter idiot._ Arianna would've laughed if she hadn't been so depressed. _Jareth isn't interested in me, other than some sort of sport. Mike... I don't know where I stand with him anymore... Maybe... I never did..._

The tears slowed, stopped and dried on her face as she came to the unfortunate realization that the men in her life were just as complicated, confusing, and messed up as she was.

Surprise, surprise. Everyone wins a prize.

Frustrated, Arianna punched the wall, causing her to have a couple of broken fingers to go along with her broken heart.

_Well, that was brilliant... Just like all my ideas today..._

Arianna closed her eyes and thought of all the bad decisions she had made in just that day; yelling at the boys for fighting, telling Mike about how Jareth was making her feel, which was what caused the fight, and then the dumbest mistake known to womankind: Letting Jareth, in his owl form, into her room. That was the mistake to end all mistakes.

Cursing herself and wincing, Arianna cradled her sore hand to her chest as she made her way out of the unknown room she was in to try to make it to that shower she wanted before all this drama had started. Just the thought of having a few minutes to herself under a cascade of warm water was all that saved her sanity.

As she made her way down the hallway, Arianna tried to figure out what she was going to say to either boy if she met up with them, if they even spoke to her after her little outburst earlier.

_Um... 'Hey, ____insert name____. How are you? Yeah... about before? Sorry I ran away like that, but you guys were being absolute assholes and I-_

Arianna shook her head, mentally pushing that line of thought away. That would only end up in another fight, with one of them in tears, most likely her. That was not a great idea, not even a good idea. Okay, that was a very bad idea.

On the verge of something else to say, Arianna ran into one of the very men she had been contemplating on how to confront.

_Shit._

--

Jareth had checked all twenty rooms of the second floor of this mausoleum that the child had called a house without a single sign of Arianna. Turning around, Jareth quickly made his way down to the bottom floor, the one the child called 'the basement', cursing the fact that he swallowed the assumption that she got that far in the short amount of time she was out of their sights.

Fighting down the urge to rip the child's arms legs off and beat him with them until he was nothing but a sniveling mass at his feet, Jareth knew that he needed to be calm when he met with Arianna, otherwise a fight would start again. A fight that could never be forgiven.

_Please, let her forgive me..._ Jareth found himself wishing fervently as he sped up, hoping to find her before that child did so he could apologize, so that child couldn't poison her mind against him anymore._ I'll kill him, and I'll enjoy it!_

_Was it really him that made her fight with you? Is she really that gullible, that easy to manipulate? Or was it your own selfishness? Your own inability to let someone __**else**__ into your heart?_

Jareth stopped, threw back his head, and laughed. Laughed at the sheer irony that, even after he admitted to himself that he had been a 'selfish prig' to Arianna, that he had been a 'complete asshole' and toyed with her emotions, he was still trying to find a way to blame it on the child that brought them here.

_I'll never learn... Do I really deserve Arianna? Do I really deserve what that child called 'a treasure' while we were fighting? Will she even forgive me?_

The laughter that started as a way to release his frustration grew in volume as well as desperation when Jareth realized that his entire happiness was dependent on a girl he had met only a few hours ago, as well as the fact that he felt sick when he thought that she wouldn't forgive him for taking so long to figure it out.

_Damn them all to the Bog of Eternal Stench!! Them and these wretched emotions!! Why must I feel this way? I buried these feelings when Sara-_

Jerking his head up, Jareth resumed his march, determined to find Arianna and make her explain why she had this effect on him as well as how she managed to gain so powerful a hold on him.

_What happens when, as you know it will, Arianna can't explain how this all came about? She wasn't even fully aware that she was a Minida until you tested it, how is she suppose to understand the workings of a much more complex problem?_

Jareth ignored his silent companion and kept walking, determined to see this thing through. He had only gone a few more steps down the stairs he had rushed up moments before when he ran into the woman he had been praying would forgive him, then cursing into a dark bog.

Swallowing slowly, Jareth walked toward her, confused as to why his heart had started thrumming like a taunt string when he saw her.

--

"Hey."

"Hi."

_Well, that was helpful..._ Looking at the tense boy in front of her, Arianna saw the same unease reflected in his azure eyes that she felt in her bruised heart, the same sorrow oozed from his stiff form that she felt in every cell of her being.

"We were worried about you," Mike locked his eyes with hers, an unknown emotion swirling in their depths that made Arianna shiver. "_I_ was worried about you."

"I just needed... to get away..." Arianna explained feebly, watching as Mike came ever closer. "You guys... made me feel so... unwanted."

"I'm sorry," Two steps, then another. She was starting to feel uneasy with him so close. "You should never feel unwanted, you're the farthest from unwanted. In fact, you are very wanted, you're... You're..."

Arianna watched as Mike struggled to come up with a proper word to define her, surprisingly hard as simple as she was.

"You're extraordinary."

Jumping, Arianna spun around to face Jareth, jaw dropping in shock at the words he had uttered, as well as the fact that he wasn't glaring at Mike or looking away now that she noticed he was there; he was staring her straight in the eye, making those damn butterflies start up again.

"You're incredible, unique, forgiving, beautiful and, above all, very special to me." Now Jareth was walking toward her, giving Arianna the strangest feeling of being offered a shield of protection and love. "You are the single most extraordinary human on this entire planet. I want to apologize, to write in the stars how much I want you to forgive me, but the act of forgiveness is your choice and I will accept whatever decision you make. So, will you forgive me, my beautiful Arianna?"

The last words were whispered against her skin and danced in her brain as Jareth reached out and brushed the tips of his fingers against her cheek, soft as a butterfly's kiss and twice as gentle. He smiled softly before dropping his hand to his side, gazing at her expectantly.

Arianna had forgotten all about the boy behind her, she was too mesmerized by the man in front of her. Almost of it's own free will, her hand reached up to touch the spot his fingers had caressed, her emerald eyes locked with his mismatched ones as her lips parted slightly, dragging in much needed air.

"I promise I will never hurt you again," Jareth whispered, every word sending another shiver to slip across her body as he gazed at her, and only her, with those expressive eyes. "I will go to the ends of the Earth to protect you and travel through fire to make sure you're happy. I-"

Jareth stopped, closed his eyes and shook his head as Arianna looked at him desperately, silently craving to hear the words he hadn't spoken, afraid to speak and break the dream.

"You what?" Mike growled, breaking the moment and reminding them that there was another participant in their little drama...

"Nothing," Jareth smiled, as Arianna tucked the conversation away for another time, another place, when they were alone and had no distractions.

It was then that her body decided it didn't like standing in wet clothes that were freezing cold and she promptly let off a volley of sneezes.

--

"Damn it! I forgot that we were all wet!" Mike fumed, taking in Arianna's soaked form, he couldn't really help it, as well as the fact that this 'Jareth' dude was freaking out over an itchy nose.

For, as soon as Arianna had started sneezing, Jareth was all over her and was acting like she was having some kind of fit or something. Honestly, didn't the guy know when to _quit_?

"I'm _fine_, Jareth," Mike felt a wave of anger overcome him as Arianna placed a hand on his _bare_-who walks around** half naked **at **night**?-chest and smile that soft smile that he thought only _he_ had the power to make appear. "_Really._"

The dude didn't look convinced and moved to hold the hand that was still on his chest before stopping, getting this way over dramatic look on his face before moving her hand so he could see it better.

"What happened to your hand, my Arianna?"

Mike twitched, getting irritated at the fact that this schmuck kept referring to Arianna as 'his' when, as far as _he_ was concerned, Arianna didn't belong to _anybody_. It was only the fact that Arianna had gotten so upset over their last fight that kept him from going over and decking the bastard.

"It's nothing," Arianna replied, once more smiling at that undeserving prick and sticking her hand into her jean's pocket. "I just bumped it when I was running into the house. It's no big deal..."

Mike shoulder twitched as he remembered what had caused Arianna to run blindly back into the house, not caring what she ran into. Feeling something other than anger for once, he was just about to offer up his own apology when that arrogant bastard interrupted again.

"The bruise is too dark for you to have just 'bumped' something," The dude's eyes had narrowed, causing Arianna to squirm slightly under his gaze and for Mike to seriously reconsider his promise not to deck the guy. "It looks like _you_ hit something that was too hard to hit."

Now Mike was curious as well, and the demand to leave Arianna the hell alone or be beaten to a bloody pulp became a question instead. "What did you do, Ari?"

Now openly fidgeting under their combined gazes, Arianna finally admitted, "I... I punched a wall a couple of minutes before you guys found me."

Mike immediately knew the cause and didn't ask anymore questions. The arrogant bastard, however, was as dense as he was incompetent, didn't catch the clue and asked anyway.

"Why?"

Arianna was studying the floor tile, so they couldn't see her expression when she answered. "I was still upset at you guys and took my anger out on something that wasn't breakable."

"And broke your fist instead." Mike's quip made Arianna smile, and it was rightfully directed at him this time, before turning back to the cause of all their problems.

"Don't worry," Arianna soothed, reaching out and holding the bastard's hand with her good one, thumb stroking the back of his hand and effectively rising Mike's ire again. "It's not as bad as it looks, it barely even hurts now."

--

Jareth wasn't convinced that Arianna's hand wasn't as bad as she claimed, for he had seen how she had been cradling it when he first saw her; but, since she had just been allowing him near her, much less touch her, he didn't press the issue. Instead, he brushed his lips against her uninjured hand's knuckles.

"As you wish."

Watching the shiver that trembled through Arianna's form gave Jareth a sense of satisfaction that she still enjoyed his touch, instead of avoiding it as he feared she might. The feeling was so strong that Jareth leaned forward and kissed Arianna's cheek as well, causing her to turn a bright red.

"Are you two done yet?" The child snapped, causing Arianna to push away from Jareth, which, in turn, made him glare at the boy who was staring at him in thinly veiled disgust.

Once more testing his self control, Jareth _smiled_ up at the child and asked, "Do you have any dry clothes for us, Mike?"

Looking like he was being forced to eat lemons, Mike grunted, "This way," before pushing by the two of them, none too gently in Jareth's opinion, and leading the way down the hall.

Jareth was allowed a brief moment of evil pleasure at the fact that the child was bothered by Arianna's actions before he saw the look on her face; it was hurt by the harsh brush off from her friend and it made Jareth want to beat the child until he begged Arianna for forgiveness.

"I wish I knew what to do," Arianna sighed, following the angered child on the way to their dry clothes. "He just seems so angry all of a sudden, I wish I knew what I did wrong..."

Unable to stop and knowing he was pushing his luck, Jareth once more pulled her into his embrace, softly kissing her forehead as he replied, "The child is just confused on where he stands now that I have entered your life... and I'm not making it any easier on him, am I?"

Arianna graced him with a smile before leaning into his embrace, telling him in no uncertain terms that she had forgiven him as well a pure jolt of happiness to shock his entire body when he realized that she showed no signs of wanting to move.

Jareth slowed his pace so that Arianna didn't have to jog to keep up and tried to think of a way to make peace with the child that riled him for no apparent reason when Arianna's voice broke through his musings.

"Jareth?"

"Yes, my Arianna?"

She was slowly falling asleep and the fact that she was in freezing wet clothes was the only thing that was keeping her awake. "You called Mike 'a child' a while ago. Does that mean you think I'm a child too?"

Looking into Arianna's sorrowful emerald orbs, Jareth felt his heart clench as he finally admitted to what he had been trying to deny for hours.

"No, you are much more important to me."

--

**A/N: Hello, one and all. I know, I know. Jareth's little declaration was kinda out of character, but I don't care! I thought it was very sweet and the only way he could admit his feelings without admitting his feelings...**

**Anyway, if you liked it, hated it, thought it sucked beyond belief, hit that little button at the bottom and tell me! I would like to know what you think; I am, after all, writing this for you!**


	8. Slow Down

**Chapter Seven: Slow Down**

Arianna closed her eyes, sighing deeply and contently as she ran her fingers through her hair. She had made it to the shower an hour ago and was finally relaxing under a steady stream of hot water, getting that moment of peace she had been looking for almost three hours, ever since the damn storm started and not just the one pounding outside.

Laying down in the shower, Arianna closed her eyes and let her body slowly fall into a completely untense position, which dropped it into a sitting position. She could finally let all her cares and worries disappear from her mind and leave it blissfully empty, even if only for a few moments.

God, Gods, or any Divine Being out there, were profusely thanked for allowing her this single minute of relaxation and peace in the middle of the headache that was her life and letting her have some time to herself, uninterrupted by any kind of problem or distraction.

Her body lightly caressed by a warm cascade of water, Arianna wished she could stay under the stream forever, but knew she only had a few hours before they would come knocking, maybe even barging in, to see her. Those two boys that were constantly in the back of her mind...

They were completely different, in both physical and emotional characteristics. She could not begin to name all the differences, both large and small, yet there was one thing the two of them had in common: Nothing about them was simple and she cared about them both, but in different ways.

Laying stretched out in the tub, Arianna slowly let the memories from the last few hours replay through her head, trying to figure out what to do with, not one, but two of the men in her life. It wasn't an easy decision, and not one she wanted to make too hastily or rashly, for it wouldn't be a light decision or one that only affected her.

She wasn't a two-timer and she had no intention of stringing both boys along when she only had feelings stronger than friendship for one of them. Both boys had an obvious hatred for each other and she seemed to be at the core of it, although she had no idea why or how it happened. Not wanting to push either boy out of her life, Arianna came back full cycle on what to do.

Humming sadly, Arianna tried to empty her mind once more to figure out what to do, but now that she had started this train of thought, she couldn't stop it. It completely took over her brain and wouldn't let go.

Finally giving up on trying to hold a straight thought, Arianna let her mind take its little trek around her brain, hopping through old memory and new. Maybe if she let it wander around, it would come up with its own answer to her problem with the men in her life that she called friends.

--

Jareth stepped out of the bathroom, wounds cleaned and closed up by the shower he had also decided to take, after seeing the happy and expectant look on Arianna's face when she was told they were near the bathrooms.

It was a new experience, with these knobs that controlled the temperature and that strange switch that sent a stream of water blasting onto his back; but, unfortunately, it was when the water had been in the burning hot state and his howl had caused the child to come running.

When he was told why he had been 'howling like a mating cat', the boy simply laughed, and left Jareth to find out how to work this shower on his own. Which only took a few more minutes of scalding pain.

Stretching his tense muscles, Jareth tested the limitations of the clothes the child had given him; he was broader in the chest than the boy, the shirt strained a bit when he puffed out his chest and flung out his arms and the pants were tighter around the calves, but it fit otherwise and he was sure that the child would taken offense if he continued to walk around half naked. Not that he cared what the child thought, but he didn't want to cause any undue problems for his Arianna.

Jareth shook his head, dispelling that kind of thought. Arianna had stated very clearly that she did not belong to either of them and he did not want to push her away by suddenly claiming her as 'his', but he could not deny that part of him wanted to announce to the world that Arianna belong to _him_, and that there would be repercussions if anyone tried to harm her, in any shape or form.

Walking down the hallway, Jareth began humming a soft tune as he looked for Arianna. Singing or any of it's variations always helped him whenever he was puzzled, angry, or just flat frustrated. Seeing as he was in a combination of all three, he really needed to let some of it out and it was either this or breaking something.

Whistling through his teeth, Jareth tried to remember how many doors were between his and Arianna's bathrooms. He had the almost positive assumption that the child had put Arianna and him as far away as humanly possible without actually kicking him out of the mansion.

Jareth had to grudgingly hand it to the boy, he knew how to make someone feel unwanted without verbally expressing it. Try as he might to fight it, Jareth wanted to know how to do that; his emotions were gaining far too much control over him.

Catching a faint melody in the air, Jareth immediately stood still and listened, straining his ears for more. After a while, he was able to discern which direction it came from and followed. A few more minutes and a smile grew across his face as he realized what was being sung, as well as who was singing it.

--

Mike exhaled slowly, took a deep breath as he counted to ten, and exhaled again. He repeated the procedure three times, each time counting higher, before looking at himself in the mirror and smiling.

Didn't work, he still felt like slugging his reflection right in the face. Repeatedly.

He had failed, lost at the one thing in his life that he wanted ever so desperately to succeed at: Arianna was in love with someone else and his only chance to ever tell her how he felt was long gone. He was defeated, utterly and completely.

Turning around and leaning against the sink so he wouldn't have to look at a loser's face, Mike tried to figure out a way to make Arianna see him for what he really was; as a man, and not just 'her friend'.

Short of shooting the bastard that had taken her from him in the face, Mike couldn't think up a single thing. Part of him hoped that it was only lust, that Arianna was a red-blooded female and she had gotten all hot over an exchange student. Much as it bothered him that she was getting all hot over someone that **wasn't** him, it was better than listening to the other side of himself. The darker side...

The side that whispered that Arianna, who could become your friend within moments of meeting you, had fallen in love with a tall, dark, and mysterious stranger. It repulsed him with the thought that the bastard had whispered a few endearments in her ear and, never hearing them before, she had fallen, hard as a rock.

Storming out of his room, Mike made his way to the kitchens and ordered that dinner would be served in the West Wing and to serve a red wine with the meal, then pulled out his cell phone and called Arianna's mother to request that her daughter stay for dinner. Her mother had no objections, seeing as Mike had been her daughter's 'best friend' since middle school.

Cringing at the last comment, as well as the fresh wave of failure it brought, Mike headed up to where he had last left the bastard and Arianna, hoping that he got there before the bastard got out of the shower and have a few blissful minutes of childish revenge by freezing his ass.

No such luck, the bastard was standing outside the bathroom Arianna was in, head bobbing in time to the song that was coming from inside it with a look of a cat that had eaten a whole birdhouse of canaries.

Irritated by the sheer volume of smugness on the bastard's face, Mike almost slugged him; it was supreme force of will, as well as the fact that he needed to show Arianna that **he** was the better man, that stopped his hand.

Taking a deep breath before letting it out slowly and realizing that it didn't really help, Mike walked toward the bastard-**Jareth**-to invite him to stay for dinner.

--

"_**As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you. Every thrill is gone, wasn't too much fun at all...**_" Arianna had always loved this song, her cousin's little melody, and it described her current situation perfectly; she felt like she was stuck in a tidal wave of pain and hadn't felt the thrill of adventure for a while. "_**But I'll be there for you-u-u... As the world falls down...**_"

Her world had certainly crumbled, that was for sure. No, it hadn't crumbled, her world had **crashed** into a thousand, a million!, pieces as much like an expensive china set dropped on the floor. How was she going to fix it without cutting herself in the process? There were so many bits and parts, she wasn't sure that she could put them the way they were before. Maybe she **needed** to rearrange them, maybe that's why she felt so stuck! Maybe-

"Maybe I'll go **in** the bathroom, then you'll have a **suitable** reason to be screaming in my face." Jareth's cool tone sent an icy shiver down Arianna's back almost at the same time it made her sigh. Her boys were fighting again...

"Do that and I'll have you thrown out of my house!" Mike's voice was on the edge of hysteria and it hastened Arianna's exit from the tub. A few more remarks and he was going to snap, not a good thing to be around and something Arianna had only seen once. Once was enough.

"I'll take Arianna with me, so go ahead and throw me out of your 'house', as you call this **crypt**," Jareth drawled, making Arianna pull on her sweater with unnecessary force and almost ripping the sleeve. He was baiting him on **purpose**! He was **so** getting bopped when she got out there!

"What makes you think Arianna wants to go with you?" Mike had snapped, with just enough disbelief in his voice to sound convincing. Yet, Arianna, hopping on one foot while trying to pull on her pants, could clearly hear the worry in his tone that said he was more worried about it than he was letting on.

"I know she does, and better yet, so do you." The silence that reined after that sentence made Arianna pause, hand on the doorknob, just on the other side of the argument. They didn't seem to notice that the water stopped, otherwise she was sure both boys would've barged in there.

Leaning up against the door, Arianna tried to hear what they were saying, but either they were whispering, due to hoarse voices from shouting, or they weren't talking at all. After a few moments, one boy seemed to realize that she was out of the shower.

"The water's stopped," Mike stated softly, barely audible for Arianna as pressed to the door as she was, "Arianna should be getting dressed, tell her dinner is in the West Wing when she gets out."

Arianna waited a few minutes than exited the door, just in time to she her best friend disappear around a corner and to feel a stab of guilt that she was causing him such unneeded heartache.

--

Hearing a soft sigh beside him, Jareth saw that Arianna had materialized beside him without him noticing. He was just about to ask her how she managed to do that when her outfit caught his eye and he promptly forgot how to talk.

She was wearing a light pink slip covered by a deep, ruby-red sweater that hugged her torso in a way that would drive an ordinary man insane, but was just making Jareth crazy as he saw she had added skin tight blue jeans that showed off her long, athletic legs to perfection.

"Jareth?" Her lips were moving, drawing his attention to the fact that her face was flushed from her bathing, her hair surrounding it in damp curls and giving her an angelic quality. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes!" Jareth replied, quickly putting up his mental shields so she couldn't catch the desire riding off him in waves. _You are going to show her how much she means to you... Not __**that**__ way! Let her set the pace..._

"Are you sure you're alright?" Forest green orbs radiating concern nearly killed his newly fought for control, but, a soft caress of her cheek combined with her innocent smile and he was back in charge.

Almost.

"I'm fine, m- Arianna, just thinking of something. Just thinking," Arianna didn't look too convinced, so Jareth decided to use the moment she opened her mouth to argue to steer her in the direction of the 'West Wing'.

"Where are we going, Jareth?" Arianna asked, digging her heels in and causing Jareth to stumble, almost falling over her in the process. It was only his heightened sense of balance that saved Arianna from being flatted. "Why are we heading this way? Isn't it off-limits?"

"The child said to go this way for dinner." Jareth replied, stopping the futile effort to go forward and grasping both her arms in a playful grip, "Now, are we going to walk there or am I going to have to carry you?"

Arianna seemed to be considering the question before a mischievous smile spread across her features as Jareth's grip tightened reflectively. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but something told him he might... **enjoy** it a bit. "Can you even pick me up, Jar-eth? It'd be hard to carry me if you can't even pick me up..."

With one sweeping motion, Jareth lifted Arianna off her feet and began to carry her, bridal style, down the hallway, enjoying the laughter and half-hearted protests that started as soon as her feet left the ground.

"Jareth! Put me down, put me-" Her sentence dissolved into giggles as Jareth stopped and watched her wiggle in his arms, completely helpless in his stronger hold, yet not really struggling. "Me. Down. Now!"

Complying with her giggled request, Jareth set Arianna down and both made their way to a dinner that was certainly going to be enjoyable, now that the easy friendship was back and they felt comfortable together again.

--

Mike could hear them laughing as the enter the West Wing dining hall and he felt another wave of anger flow through him. He knew that kind of laughter; it was the kind you share with someone you tease, someone you had been best friends with.

Someone you love.

Tightening his grip on the wine glass he had, stopping only when he heard it cracking, Mike attempted to school his face into a neutral expression as they made their into the dinning hall. For this to work, he needed to be completely calm.

"Jareth! Stop that!"

A fact that was getting harder and harder to hold on to and make sure he followed, due to fact that _Jareth_ was still in the house.

He watched as they walked in, laughing and teasing each other, the earlier hurt and anger gone as they made their way to the dinning table he was sitting at, barely even noticing him and the waiters in the room. He watched as they seated themselves, Jareth holding out Arianna's chair before sitting across from her, and arranged their silverware before they even glanced his way, both of them smiling hugely.

"So, Mike, what are you treating us to tonight?" Arianna asked, treating him to a wider smile as well as a giggle. "Something fancy or something simple?"

Smiling back, although his was a little strained when he noticed that Jareth kept brushing his fingers against Arianna's knuckles and she showed no signs of moving, Mike answered, "A little bit of both, if that's alright."

"Of course, it's your house, after all!" Arianna turned to Jareth and questioned, "Are you allergic to anything? Is there anything you can't eat?"

"No," Jareth replied, shaking his head slowly. _So much for poisoning the bastard. _"Are you allergic to anything?"

Arianna shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly, "Sort of. Peanut butter doesn't like me that much; every time I eat it, I get sick. Not too bad, but bad enough."

"Don't worry," Mike interjected, causing Arianna and Jareth to look back at him, "nothing in this dinner has peanut butter or any peanuts at all in it. I knew you were allergic to them and made sure nothing came in contact with anything peanut-y. I don't want to poison _you_."

The glare Jareth sent him made him smirk, which caused Arianna to frown before he was informed, "You can't poison Jareth either! That's just mean! He's my friend, Mike, same as you!"

The cringe that flew across Jareth's face made the chastisement worth it and gave Mike a sense of hope that there was some chance he could change her mind about keeping them 'friends'.

"So, what **are** we eating?" Jareth asked, breaking up Mike's happy daydream and making him reconsider shooting the bastard before Arianna asked the same question, adding an 'I'm starving!' to the end.

"Escargo, California rolls and Maui Maui," Mike replied, an evil grin spreading across his face at the paleness that Arianna's face took on at his teasing and the complete confusion that dominated Jareth's expression.

"God..." Arianna groaned, putting a hand over her mouth and going from white to green in a matter of minutes and making Mike's smile falter, "Are you **trying** to make me lose my appetite?"

"Sorry," Mike grinned sheepishly, motioning for the waiters to step forward, "I was just teasing. I'm sure you'll like what dinner really is."

_**A/N: As always, please review and tell me what you think!**_


	9. Dinner Discussions

**Chapter Eight: Dinner Discussions**

Like he promised, the food was exceptional and each participant multiple servings, including dessert. The company was terrific and the setting was carefully planned so that everyone felt comfortable. The actual conversation, however, was **not** going the way Mike had hoped.

His hope had been, with the familiar food and a dash of wine to make her relax, Arianna would remember what it was like to be normal and ditch this Jareth bastard once and for all. However, as the meal went on, Arianna seemed more inclined to **flirt** with the stuck up prick and ignore Mike all together.

In the beginning of the meal, as soon as Arianna realized the extent to which Mike had spent preparing the meal, she immediately went red and didn't speak for a while after. Mike had not meant to make Arianna feel guilty, he just wanted to show her how much **he** cared about her.

Maybe making all three courses Arianna's favorites from the time they visited Paris was a bit much, but he just wanted to show her that he paid attention, that what she liked **mattered** to him...

Arianna had raised her eyebrows at the wine, stating that she wouldn't drink any with a shake of her head and a 'Remember what happened last time?' that immediately perked Jareth's interest. Arianna, however, refused to talk about it and that only piqued his curiosity even more. They bantered back and forth for a bit before Mike finally spoke up.

"Don't worry, Aria," Mike stated, looking pointedly at Jareth as he spoke. The thought of the jackass taking advantage of Arianna while intoxicated made him want to spit. Right in his face."I'll make sure that you won't do anything you wouldn't do normally."

And that self righteous bastard, instead of getting angry or verbal, simply smiled this snarky, degrading smile that told Mike in no uncertain terms that they had already done what he was insinuating. "And what would you know about what she does normally?"

Mike had clenched his fists at this, fighting everything in his body not to get up and slug the shit out of the asshole, and Arianna had gone a lovely shade of pink that rivaled the drapes hanging around the room before kicking Jareth under the table, making him wince as she hissed, "Stop being such an ass!"

"Too late, it's already happened by now," As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Mike half wished he could take them back. Arianna would probably be pissed at him and never talk to him after this... After a few moments he decided it was worth it when he saw Arianna shoveling as much food as possible that her mouth could hold trying to hide her smile.

"I'm pretty sure," Jareth had said coldly while Mike and him stared the other down, trying not to blink, "that nothing will happen with us watching you... and each other."

With a disapproving glare at both Mike and Jareth, Arianna finally decided to drink the wine, grumbling with each sip. Then sighing with each sip, and then giggling madly at everything either one of them said.

_After which she decided to use Jareth as a chair. _Fingers tightening around his own glass until he could hear it cracking, Mike mentally thrashed himself for the bright idea of having wine and thinking it was a good idea.

"Sir?" The question was timidly placed, as if the speaker was uncertain that they should speak, and effectively drew Mike out of his dark thoughts. It did not, unfortunately, banish the sight of the girl he loved in another man's lap.

Tearing his gaze away from the sight of Arianna feeding Jareth from **both** of their plates, Mike turned to the red-headed maid that had spoken and tried not to vent his anger out at her and snap. Swallowing down his mounting ire, he simply grimaced and asked, "Yes? How can I help you?"

She didn't say anything, but simply nodded at his clenched hand. Following her gaze to his fist, Mike realized that his control wasn't as good as he originally thought and there was a long, deep crack from the base of the cup, all the way up the stem, ending right under the lip.

"Ah, I see," Mike had replied, removing his hand from the glass and allowing the maid to replace it with a new one. Nodding his thanks, Mike added, "Thank you." which made the girl blush a little for some reason.

Pausing for a moment, Mike realized that he knew her; she was the daughter of the cook and was a few years younger than he was. Unlike the other maids, who took their works in shifts and went home, she stayed at the mansion full time. Now if he could only remember her name...

The girl started to blush again and it took Mike a minute to realize that he had been staring at her as he tired to figure out her name. Smiling sheepishly, which caused the blush to darken, Mike nodded to her and she quickly left the room.

Turning his gaze down to the end of the table to ask Aria if she could remember the girl's name, since she was always better at remembering important things like that, Mike was disgusted to realize that Aria and the bastard were now feeding each other, gooey eyes and all.

Fighting off the urge to be violently and horribly sick, Mike had cleared his throat a few times to gain Aria's groggy, and Jareth's annoyed, attention. "Are you two ready for dessert yet?"

As he steadied Aria on his lap and prevented her from face-planting onto the table and/or dining room floor, Jareth had smiled slightly and muttered, "As long as it isn't anything alcoholic, I think we'll be able to manage..."

Mike snorted. "Have you not noticed that my servants have stopped giving her wine hours ago? I guess you've been a little distracted feeling up the inebriated girl on your lap, you sick bastard."

Jareth was about to shout out an angry retort when Aria's slurry voice had interrupted him. "I ish not inbetterated, and Jarish never felt up me. He'sh being very po'ite, unlike you, you meanie."

Mike's eyes had narrowed to slits at Jareth as he buried his face in Aria's hair to avoid bursting out laughing while Aria had started singing 'Meanie, meanie, Mikey! He's a turd!" to the tune of 'I'm A Little Teapot'.

After about five minutes of this, Jareth stopped shaking with silent laughter and muttered, "I don't think that's helping matters, Arianna."

"Sir?" It was the same girl from before, she had come back again and she was frowning at Aria slumped over the table. Mike was sure that her name started with an 'H' or an 'C'. He decided to overlook that for now "The dessert is ready, shall we bring some out or are your friends leaving?"

Looking over at the two snuggle bunnies, Mike decided he'd try one more time to get Aria's attention. After this fiasco was over, he was completely giving up and conceding that there was nothing there but friendship. Yet, for now... "Yes, send some in for us, then retire for the night."

Giving the two another glare and a sniff to boot, the maid gave Mike a low bow with this shy little smile that made him give her one of his own before heading to the kitchen to alert the cook to send out the dessert.

Jareth had, by the time the cake had made it to the table, sobered Aria up enough for her to be sitting in her own chair and focused enough to see the confection Mike had taken such pains to make sure was ready for tonight. Mike was grudging grateful for this, but was surprised at how easily he did it.

_If I didn't know any better, I'd say that he did it magically. _Mike thought, eying the stranger warily, almost giving into the instinct to pull Aria closer to him for protection. Shaking his head, he put the thought away to catch Aria's reaction. _But that's impossible, right?_

"A triple chocolate truffle cream cake?" Aria eyes lit up like twin stars as the chocolate tower was placed on the table. Turning, she gave Mike one of those room lighting smiles of hers. "That's my absolute favorite! First the delicious dinner, and then the wonderful dessert! How did you do all of this if you didn't even know I was coming?"

Gloating innerly at the praise, as well as the fact that oh-so-cool Jareth was now glaring hateful daggers at him, Mike decided to rub salt into the wound by reaching over and placing a hand over Aria's, squeezing slightly. "I had hoped you would come over and asked them to make it in case you did... I guess I just got lucky."

Aria had blushed and pulled her hand away, glancing over at Jareth worriedly. He, however, did not see her concern; he was a little too busy drowning the rest of his drink and ignoring the two of them.

_Score one for the home team!! _Mike thought gleefully, cutting the dessert into very liberal chunks and handing out the cake to each person. _Now, all I got to do is keep her attention and show her what an ass this 'Jareth' is!_

Aria took her slice of the confection and immediately bit into the sugary treat, making an audible moan of pleasure as she savored the delightful mix of chocolate and cream, unaware that both boys were watching her.

"Does she always do that?" Jareth asked, watching in interest as Aria visibly wiggled in pleasure as she took her next bite. He seemed intrigued by the way she acted over a simple dessert. No doubt he was already trying to figure out ways for her to gain more of it and ways to make sure **he** was on the receiving end of her joyous praise.

"Almost every time **I** made it for her." Mike was sure to put a particular emphasis on 'I' and was pleased to see Jareth's glare on him intensified to one of utter loathing before he continued, "It's not a well known dessert and it takes quite a while to cook. I'm sure it's well beyond your talents..."

Jareth deigned to answer, instead, he simply **growled **at Mike, which caused him to smile sadistically, before turning back to Aria and her childlike enjoyment of her just desserts.

Catching the looks the boys were giving her, Aria flushed a deep garnet before setting down her fork and snapping, "What? I like chocolate, I like truffles and I like cake. Is that a crime?"

Jareth and Mike were quick to make very quick, very loud denials that had Aria giggling as they also decided to have a sample of the chocolate treasure. Jareth was pleasantly surprised after his first bite.

"I can see why you like this! It's delicious!" Jareth exclaimed, Aria nodding happily as he took a bite with each word. "It's creamy, but not overly so... There's cake that's soft, but firm enough to counter-taste the frosting and creme... What?"

Aria was laughing outright and Mike was looking at him like he had grown an extra head. There was a moment's silence between the two as Aria tried to get her laughter under control before Mike spoke. "Did you suddenly decide to become a professional cake tester?"

Jareth's eyes lit up. "They have that job?" He quipped. which immediately set Aria off again, Jareth joining along this time. After a few minutes, Mike resignedly added in their merriment.

_This guy's slick __**and**__ smooth,_He thought exasperatedly, watching as Aria showed Jareth how to cut the cake piece to 'get the most out of each bite'. _Aria seems to go for that... How am I suppose to compete?_

"Hey, Mike?" A soft voice broke through Mike's musings... a voice he knew as well as his own.

Surprised and pleased, Mike turned to Aria with an interested expression. This was the first time she had spoken to him since the cake came out. He was still curious over how fast she sobered, but finally concurred it was the sight of her favorite dessert that did it. "Yes?"

"You're awfully quiet over there," Aria mused, licking her spoon idly and making Mike's pants uncomfortably tight. Didn't she know how provocative that simple act was, coming from her? Probably not, and he wasn't sure if he should tell her not. Would she think him weird or just perverted...? "Just wondering what you were thinking..."

_Something completely different than a few minutes before..._ Swallowing hard and trying to get his dirty mind back on track, Mike tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't get him slapped or slugged. Not much came to mind and Aria was still looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"Nothing important," It seemed the safest thing to say, not to mention the simplest; he really wasn't thinking of anything important to the conversation at this point in time. Maybe later...

Shaking his head mentally, Mike dismissed such thoughts as foolish and stupid. Not only did he not know what Aria would say to his confession, which he planned to tell her as soon as dinner was over and they had a few minutes to themselves, his heated thoughts were already making him uncomfortable and he didn't need any unnecessary... ahem... _strain_.

"Does he not think of important things a lot?" Jareth asked, smirk set firmly in place as he licked his own spoon and filled Mike with an almost uncontrollable urge to shove said spoon down his throat.

However, there was a positive side effect to Jareth little comment was that that it doused his arousal as effectively as cold water. Somehow, Mike just couldn't find it in himself to feel grateful to the selfish bastard...

Neither, it seemed, could Aria; for growling audibly, she must've kicked him under the table again, for he winced as she hissed, "Would you be nice for _five minutes_?! _Please_?"

Trying to mask his hurt, either from the kick or her words, Jareth retorted Aria's demand with, "Why is that it that I get yelled at when I remark on something and you laugh at what he says?"

"Because what he says isn't half as hurtful as what comes out of your mouth!" They were both standing now, faced off on opposite sides of the table and Mike felt as unimportant as the surrounding tableware. He followed their interaction like a spectator at a Ping Pong tournament. "Not to mention the fact that you seem to be doing it on purpose! Jesus, Jareth! Are you **trying** to start a fight?

"No, I'm not trying to start a fight, Arianna! Maybe I'm feeling a little left out," Jareth muttered, dropping his gaze to the tabletop and trying to play the whole thing off as a sympathy act. Mike wasn't fooled, and Aria buying it either, "You seem to care more for him than you do for me, and maybe I'm just tired of all the attention he's getting from you."

Mike felt his mouth drop open in shock and closed it as quickly as he could. Jareth was jealous of him? How could that be, when Mike could clearly see how infatuated Aria was with this guy, hating him every second for it? Did he not realize just how much Aria cared for him?

Blinking rapidly, Mike just grasped something that had been skirting the edges of his mind all night, dodging all attempts to bring it to attention: He didn't really hate Jareth, it was just what he did, what he managed to do in a few hours when Mike had been trying for a whole year. He made Aria fall in love with him.

No, **made** was something people did under lies and trickery, and Aria was more sensible than that, even when it came to love. Romantic, but realistic, was Aria. She wasn't **made **to love Jareth, this was done with her wishes, not against them... and that was what hurt the most.

Trying to come to terms with the sudden empathy he now had with Jareth, Mike was also aware that he longer wanted to tell Aria that he loved her. It wasn't as if the love went away, it was more like he realized that, even if he did confess, Aria would probably insist that they stay 'just friends'. Mike could live with being 'just' her friend... after a little while.

Now the real question remained; would he help Jareth or just do nothing and see if he ever would manage to make Aria laugh instead of cry? Although he knew how the man felt, it didn't mean they were going to best chums and he was unsure whether or not to hand Aria over to the selfish prick or not...

"...favoring either one of you and you know it, Jareth!" Mike tuned in time to hear the last part of Aria's sentence and was surprised, not to mention angry, that Jareth had brought her to the verge of tears. Again. "I thought we promised that there would be no more fights? I'm trying as hard as I can to be civil here...Why are you breaking that promise?"

Well, that answered that question. Not only was Mike not going to give up on Aria, but he was going to make sure that Jareth never, **ever** came near her again, even if he had to beat him off with his own hands!!

Jareth, for is part, had opened his mouth to retort, saw Mike readying himself to defend Aria, physically if need be, and snapped his mouth shut, muttered a stiff, "I'm sorry..." before sitting back down and finishing up his cake.

After a few minutes of staring at Jareth's bowed head, Aria let out a sigh that quivered on the edge of a sob, before sitting down as well, no longer enjoying the dessert in front of her. After a few minutes, Mike followed suit.

Nothing was said after that, each was absorbed in his/her own thoughts.

_A/N: Hello all, I'm back!! I'm sorry for the space gap between updates, but I was bit by, not one, not two, but __**three**__ rabid plot bunnies that __**would not **__let go, even when I offered to feed my sister to them. Yet, I'm here and I'm staying this time!!_

_Please read and review, constructive criticisms are fine, but NO FLAMES!!_


	10. Ties of Love and Friendship

**Chapter Nine: Ties of Love and Friendship**

After the disaster that was dinner behind them, all the food put away and dishes cleaned, Arianna called her mother to say that she was spending the night at Mike's instead of heading home. The continuous fighting was taking a toll on her and all she wanted to do was sink into the obliviousness of sleep for a few hours instead of trudging all the way home.

Her mother had readily agreed, stating that she trusted Mike to be a gentleman and that Arianna was practically an adult, so she couldn't very well order her around anymore, anyway.

The underlying message/warning was crystal clear; she had free reign to do whatever she wanted, but she was expected to do the right thing and be careful. Arianna responded with an 'it's not Mike or me you should worry about' that probably had her mother's worry meter going haywire as she strongly considering coming over and making sure her child behaved in person.

For the one that was really pushing Arianna's buttons; both emotionally and morally, was Jareth and the way that he seemed to bring out the worst in her; she was already starting to feel bad for yelling at him over dinner. Now that she had time to look over her behavior earlier that night, she saw that he was right; she **had **been averting Mike's actions and getting on Jareth's case more often than her friend. Being rip roaring drunk or no, that kind of behavior for Arianna was simply inexcusable.

Falling backward onto her bed, Arianna tried to sort out, yet again, what she should do about Jareth and Mike, two of the most important people to her, one for far longer than the other.

First of all, she mentally kicked herself for not noticing earlier how Mike felt about her; not only could some of this trouble could've been avoided, she probably would've avoided hurting him so much every time she had complained about her boyfriend troubles to him.

Secondly, she had been way too easy with her kisses and caresses with Jareth, which probably explain why he had been so unexplainable with his emotions and how he felt about her. She needed to be more reserved and find out it he thought of her as a significant other or simply a lover; someone to help him, as her mother once put it, 'get his jollies off and put away for next time'.

Right now, Arianna wasn't really sure which one she wanted it to be, but she wished he would just make up his damn mind already…

Last, but certainly by no means least, was her new found ability as a Minida. She suspected that she had a latent talent for it before Jareth even showed up; she could tell sometimes what someone was going to say by the way their body moved before they spoke and everyone always told her she was the best at negotiating how to get out of trouble or cheer someone up, something she once took such pride in. That wasn't the problem here; the problem was what she was going to do about now, or what she **could** do about it now.

Supposing that Jareth's magic simply brought out what was lurking in her mind all along, Arianna was now struck with the thought of what would happen if he ever left her and went back to wherever he came from. The gift would probably disappear as soon as he did, and if she wanted to be true to her heart and herself, the thought of him leaving hurt a whole lot more than the thought of the loss of her newfound abilities.

Twisting over to her side, Arianna tried to calm her rapidly racing mind and get at least a few hours of sleep before she had to face another day of trying to follow her heart without breaking someone else's, but it wasn't co-operating and was racing from thought to thought, not giving her time to stop and study them for even a moment.

It finally stopped at a bitter memory that had happened only a few moments before, one which decided to clue her in, in the worst possible way, to how her 'best friend' and 'confidant' really felt about her.

-----0-----0-----0-----

"Hey, Ari, can I talk to you?" Mike asked hesitantly, speaking for the first time since the blow-up at dinner, catching Arianna as she made her way to her room. He hoped that she wouldn't flat out ignore his request or that Jareth wouldn't butt in. "Please? It'll only take a minute…"

Jareth, surprisingly, didn't growl, glare, or do any of his other posturing that usually followed an attempt by Mike to get Arianna alone. It was a shock and Mike would have grinned outright at his victory if Arianna hadn't looked after Jareth's retreating back like her favorite puppy just bit her.

"Yeah, sure," Arianna responded distractedly, still staring after Jareth's retreating form, "What do you want to talk about?"

Mike frowned in frustration, not really wanting to try to tell Arianna how he felt while she was distracted by the exit of a competitor for her affections. "Can you at least **look** at me when I talk to you?"

The surliness his voice took seemed to break Arianna out of her saddened stupor as she blinked a few times before turning to Mike with an apologetic smile before speaking. "I'm sorry, Mike, that was rude of me. What do you want to talk to me about?"

Mike knew that he should be mad at her for ignoring him so blatantly like that, but it was hard to summon up his anger when she looked at him like that. Sighing instead, he gestured that she follow him and made his way to a sitting room nearby.

It took a few minutes to get there and that gave Mike enough time to get suitably anxious about what the question he was about to ask his best friend, the that would probably change their relationship forever, even if-he prayed that she wouldn't-she refused his proposal.

Upon entering, Mike waited until Arianna had taken a seat before taking a seat on the table in front of her, uneasiness and nervousness making him rub his palms along the length of his jeans as he tried to smile comfortingly at her confused expression. "I'm not really sure where to start…"

"Start at the beginning," Arianna stated primly, grinning as her little quote electing a small, hesitant half-smile from Mike as well, "and when you get to the end, stop. See?"

"Well, here the start and end of it," Mike took a deep breath and closed his eyes, steadying himself for the rejection he was sure to get, but he needed to get this off his chest or he would explode.

"I love you, Ari."

"I love you too, Mike-"

Mike's eyes snapped open before Arianna's sentence was even finished and his face split into a wide grin as his heart leapt at the thought of his best friend feeling the same way he did. Still floating around the world on his high cloud, Mike only caught the end of her sentence.

"-you're one of my best friends… Mike? Are you alright?"

Mike smile faltered as he realized that Arianna thought that he meant that he loved her the way that one friend did another, the way they said they loved each other when saying good-bye, only with actual meaning on Mike's part.

Hanging his head, Mike sighed again before insisting, "No, Ari, I mean I **love, **love you, as in actual love."

Gazing at his lap, Mike missed the look of shock that crossed Arianna's face as her eyes widen as she looked at her 'best friend', the 'buddy' that just admitted that he loved her. He did, however, heard the little, slightly smothered, gasp of surprise that followed.

_Well, this is going better than I thought. _Mike thought surly, raising his head as he tried to salvage one of the biggest mistakes he made. _At least she isn't storming out on me, saying I was just being her friend as an excuse…_

Pushing the dark thoughts of the first and only secret he ever kept from Arianna in their long friendship away, he instead focused on the problem at hand; keeping Arianna's companionship, if not her love, for him intact.

-----0-----0-----0-----

Jareth was lying on his bed, twirling a crystal globe around his fingers, the motion was both calming and allowed him to clear his thoughts for a few minutes as he thought of the powerful emotion that now had him in it's deadly grip:

Jealousy.

It was that emotion that made him stomp off after dinner when Mike had requested that he have a moment with Arianna, it was that emotion that had him sulking on his bed for the past half hour, and it was that emotion that had him in such a quandary over the object in his hands that minute.

The crystal flowing across his knuckles in its soothing rhythm had a double purpose; it could be used as a viewing mirror and Jareth was having a very hard time keeping himself from using it to do just that and spy on the conversation that Arianna and Mike were having.

On the one hand, he could make sure that Mike could not try anything that his Arianna did not want to try, not that he didn't believe that she could handle herself, it was just the thought of it sicken him. It was only the warning of what would happen if Arianna would say and do to him if she found out he had spied on her and, knowing his passionate Minida, she **would **find out.

On the other hand, the thought of Mike, a healthy, red-blooded male with something on his mind more intimate than friendship, being **alone** in a room with his Arianna made him see red and also made him grip the crystal orb in his fist so tightly; that the sudden heat that flared from it almost burnt his hand and it was only his quick reaction time that saved his palm.

Tossing the orb in the air, where it hung as if it had been strung on an invisible string, Jareth shielded his eyes from the blinding light that was still emitting from it before the glow finally died down; allowing Jareth to finally be able to see what his crystal was trying to show him.

It was the interior of a small, darkened room lit by a flicker of candlelight that illuminated two seated figures talking in muted voices. Apparently, the crystal had picked up on his mutinous feelings and decided to show him what he so badly wanted to see without him even asking for it.

Watching as the two conversed, Jareth immediately felt guilty for thinking that his Arianna would allow Mike to try anything and the fact that he didn't trust her enough to allow her a moment alone with a friend that he was sure she had long before he had even entered her life.

Waving his hand in a sharp, cutting motion in front of him, the crystal's glow dimmed and went out as it dropped into his hand, filling Jareth's heart with the guilt of his doubt. It had taken him almost an hour of concentration to create that crystal and what was the first thing he decided to do with it??? Spy on his… lover? …friend? ...a sparing partner? Arianna was the simplest thing to call the female that drove him up the wall far more than Sa-

Shaking his head sharply, Jareth pulled his thoughts away from the ebony haired female that had thwarted him in his own kingdom. Not only was not fair to compare the two when they were **nothing** alike; he had sworn that, the instant she left his world, he would cease thinking about Sarah Hansen.

Falling onto his bed, Jareth closed his eyes and told himself that it was **Mike** he didn't trust and that his Arianna was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, it was just his possessive streak that made him want to storm to where they were talking, throw Arianna over his shoulder no matter what she or the brat said, storm back over to his room, throw her on the bed and-

Throwing his hand over his eyes and groaning as his body reacted to the last scene his mind was showing him, Jareth was surprised to find himself relieved that Arianna wasn't in the room with him; he wasn't sure what would happen if she reacted either way to that thought.

It was also a good thing he had decided to dim the crystal, for the scene that came next would have surely made him strongly reconsider going through with his plans, and an added one or two…

-----0-----0-----0-----

Mike sat there, hands clenching his knees as he stared into Arianna's face as she tried to process what he had just told her. After a few moments of awkward silence, he couldn't take the quiet anymore. "Please say something, Ari; it wasn't that much of a shock… was it?"

Shaking her head, Arianna softly replied, "No, it wasn't that much of a shock… I should have guessed, you and Jareth were at each others' throat too much for it just be mutual dislike… I just-"

"I'm not saying that you have to answer now," Mike interrupted, reaching forward and clasping Arianna's hands between his own, a burning heat overcoming him as he ignored the way that her body tensed at his touch, "I just wanted to tell you how I felt… I'm sorry it took me this long to admit it."

"Mike, please let go of me for a second, I can't think clearly with you in my personal space…" Arianna tried to pull her hands out of his grip, not liking the dark gleam in Mike's eyes, but he was having none of it, "Come on, Mike, you're hurting my hands! Let go of me, NOW!!"

"I can't do that," Mike denied heatedly, trying to make her see, trying to get through to her that **he** loved her and that the only way to help get rid of the stabbing pain in his chest was for her to say that she loved him as well. "Not until I show you how much you mean to me…"

That was the only warning she got before he savagely pulled her against him and crushed his lips against hers in a bruising kiss that had her gasping in shock, which only made things that much worse…

Taking her gasp as an invitation, Mike thrust his tongue down her throat in an effort to deepen the kiss, but instead, after a few minutes of struggling, had it bitten down upon. Very hard, enough to draw blood, in fact; enough to make the burning sensation disappear completely.

"Fuck!" Pulling away, Mike grabbed a tissue as Arianna pushed even further away from him and ran toward the door. Seeing her flee from him like he was some kind of stalker hit him like a spear of ice. "Arianna! Wait!"

Her hand was on the door and she turned toward him, making Mike hope for a second that he'd be able to explain he had no idea what had happened, how he had come to be bleeding and why Arianna was so scared of him. It was quickly dashed by the cold glare his best friend sent his way, made even more heart-wrenching by the hint of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"I will **never**," Arianna stated, her voice low and every word cutting through Mike's heart, "**ever**, love you. I am going to my room, I am locking my door, and if I even **think** I hear you messing with the lock, I will scream so loud, Jareth won't even consider asking questions, he'll just kill you."

Slamming the door in his face before he could even explain didn't hurt as much as her words just had. Mike spat into the tissue he clenched in his hand, tears and blood mixing on the cloth as he whispered, horrified at what just happened, "Oh my god… What did I do?"

-----0-----0-----0-----

Arianna shifted on the bed, unable to rest after remembering that particular moment in time. She was strongly reconsidering calling her mother and having her come to pick her up, just to put some distance between her and Mike. It was only the look of utter disbelief on his face after she bit him that made her decide to stay; that, and the fact that she had no idea how she was going to explain Jareth's presence to her mother...

Did Mike really not remember what had just happened between the two of them? He had always been a terrible liar, and he looked absolutely flabbergasted that she was running away from him in fear. Maybe she had done something wrong, said something she shouldn't have...

A loud creak resounding from outside her door made Arianna bolt upright in the bed and stare at the entranceway of her room as she silently willed her heartbeat returned to normal speed, a residential pain still residing after it slowed down and sped back up again when the floorboards shifted again.

Arianna couldn't stand it anymore; she had to know who was standing outside that door. Slowing past the lump in her throat, she jumped out of the bed, ran toward the door and pulled it open...

...reveling a sober Jareth standing on the other side, hand raised in the act of knocking on her door. His face registered a moment of slight surprise before his eyes narrowed on her disheveled form in concern.

"What happened?"

Arianna didn't reply, or really say much of anything; she just threw her arms his neck and buried her face in his chest, shaking with relief as Jareth wrapped her up in her arms in an almost impulsive reaction. She needed to be held in those strong arms right then, unsure of their relationship or not, it felt **good** to have him hold her...

After a moment's thought, Jareth closed the door behind them, clicking the lock as well. Arianna tensed as she heard the lock's click echoing around the room, which made Jareth's eyes narrow even further as his grip also unconsciously tightened. "Arianna, you need to tell me what happened."

Arianna didn't want to talk about what had happened, she wanted to forget it, push it as far away from her memory as possible. So, instead of responding to Jareth's demand, she just pressed her lips against his, effectively ending his interrogation as she pushed even closer to him, hands slipping under his shirt and running the tips of her fingers across his back.

Jareth could tell that Arianna was trying to distract him from whatever had happened between her and Mike, but at that moment he didn't really care. Right now, Arianna needed him, needed him to touch her and hold her, and he was only too happy to agree.

"I need… to feel you..." Arianna sighed, Jareth's lips traveled from her face to her neck, making little waves of pleasure shot through her body from head to toe as she tugged the bottom of his shirt upwards. Her earlier fear was gone; Jareth would never hurt her and she could hear the passionate thoughts running through his head in perfect tandem with her own. "Your skin... against mine..."

Jareth stopped his ministrations and looked at Arianna's wide, desperate eyes as she leaned forward to pick up where Jareth left off; but before their lips could once again connect that blissful way that warmed them both, he lifted her up, unlocked her door, and began to carry her bridal style down the hall.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?" Arianna, asking between kisses to Jareth's neck, making it awful hard for the Goblin King to concentrate on walking instead of ravishing the girl in his arms.

"You're going to sleep in my room," Jareth answered, trying to banish he images that came with that thought. He couldn't take advantage of Arianna until he found out what had happened between her and the boy. If he had touched her..."I'd feel better if you stayed with me."

Arianna snuggled closer to Jareth's chest, content with the destination, even if her original plan had been thwarted. Right now, she needed to comfort and closeness, and Jareth offered both. She was content to lay with him and deal with the repercussions in the morning.


	11. Chest Pains

**Chapter Ten: Chest Pains**

Jareth was sure that Arianna was going to be the death of him; one moment she was pushing him away, yelling at him that he was treating her emotions like a yo-yo, the next minute she's pressed deliciously against him, practically begging him to take her right there in the hallway. It was really testing his self-control.

Now they were lying in his bed, Arianna tangled around him like a clinging ivy, and absolutely tight lipped about what had caused her sudden change in mood. So that left Jareth, unable to sleep for **several** reasons and not all of them honorable, to puzzle out what had happened…

_He had been unable to sleep, although the reason had been completely different than now, and had been mulling what Arianna had told him over in his head and realized that he needed to talk to his fiery Mindia._

_It had occurred to him that she might be asleep after her little chat with her friend, so Jareth decided he would just knock on her door and if she didn't answer, he'd just try to sleep and wait until the morning to talk to Arianna._

_He hesitated outside her door, for there was no light and he couldn't hear any movement from inside the room. What if he woke her and made her even angrier? Despite the fact that she looked heavenly when she was angry, face flushed and eyes blazing with green flame, Jareth did not want his Arianna angry at him._

_However, the choice was taken out of his hands when Arianna jerked the door to her room open, leaving him halfway through the motion of knocking._

_The first thing that told Jareth something was wrong was the brief look he had of Arianna's face before she threw herself at him; it was utterly and completely terrified, reminding Jareth of the foxes he used to chase with his hounds, eyes wide and looking everywhere for an escape route._

_Then she was in his arms, trying to get him to kiss her, to hold her, to…_

Arianna shifted against him in her sleep, bringing his thoughts back to the current predicament he found himself in.

For, no matter how his body protested, Jareth was not about to take advantage of Arianna right after she had been frightened half to death, especially in a place that was suppose to be safe.

Jareth let the anger that had hit him when he had seen Arianna's terrified face flow over him, having pushed it aside to help her calm down and feel safe again. He let it tightened every muscle in his body until Arianna whimpered in her sleep and made him struggle to control the urge to throttle the boy that caused her to feel so afraid.

For there was only one other person that currently inhabited the house they were in, only one other person that had been alone with Arianna before Jareth had visited her room, and as soon as Jareth got her out of the house and safely inside her own, he was going to **discuss** exactly **how** he had frightened Arianna so badly.

And make sure he **never** did so again…

* * *

Mike pressed the icepack harder against his mouth, still tasting blood and feeling utterly disgusted with himself. It was a good thing he didn't want to traumatize Arianna **more**, otherwise he'd…

In a sudden rush of anger, mostly directed at himself, Mike threw the icepack across the room, causing it to shatter against the far wall and make a dent in the plaster. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, **stupid**!"

What the **hell **was the **matter **with him?? He just wanted to tell Arianna that he loved her, that he would **always** love her, even if it was only as her friend and confidant. That he'd always be there for her, no matter what. Instead he decides to practically **jump** her and gets bitten for his efforts.

"Fucking moron, forcing yourself on her like that," Mike muttered, tenderly touching his lower lip and wincing. "So much for showing her that you care about her…"

What was really confusing him was where the sudden urge to kiss Arianna, to hold her even when she ordered him to let go, had come from. Hell, it had taken Jareth showing up and practically sweeping Arianna off her feet for Mike to even admit that he even **liked** her, so why…?

The whole thing was giving him a monster of a headache and he felt sick enough already for what he did to Arianna, so he decided just to try to get some sleep and pray the whole thing was some kind of vividly, intensely bad dream.

_**Little chance of that, with the way my luck's been,**_ Mike thought morosely, heading up the stairs to his room and the hope of a dreamless night's sleep.

Passing Arianna's room on the way to his own caused another wave of shame to hit Mike full force in the stomach. He had originally set it up that way so that he could keep an eye on her and make sure she slept easy. Now, it seemed that the person that he should have been so determined to protect her from was himself…

Perhaps it was the fact he was looking at his feet when he passed her room, or that he was so busy blaming himself, but Mike didn't realize that Arianna's door was wide open until he was halfway down the hall.

Backtracking, Mike placed himself in the open entryway and called out to his friend. "Arianna?"

No answer.

Making his way into the room, Mike saw that the sheets were twisted and tangled from Arianna's restless form, but a quick touch told him that she hadn't been sleeping in them for a while…

Heart sinking even further than he thought possible, Mike made his way to the only other place he knew that Arianna would go if she stayed in his house after what he did to her.

Sure enough, soft voices floated out of Jareth's room, one of them unmistakably Arianna's gentle tones.

Stuck between the need to apologize and the fear that she would hate him, Mike was frozen just outside the room and privy to the conversation just inside.

* * *

Arianna couldn't sleep; no, scratch that, she was afraid to sleep. Every time she drifted off, lulled by the warmth of Jareth's embrace and the safety she found there, she dreamed of Mike and the savage look on his face right before he…

"Arianna."

What would've happened if she hadn't bitten him? He wasn't listening when she told him no and to stop, his grip just kept getting tighter and **tighter**…

"Arianna, you're okay. I'm right here, you need to wake up…"

She thought she knew him better than anybody, they had been best friends forever, why was he hurting her now…?

A soft touch interrupted her nightmare as it caressed her forehead, followed by a commanding voice she knew and loved that ordered, "Arianna, wake up."

With a gasp like a drowning man dragging in much needed air, Arianna opened her eyes to find Jareth's mismatched orbs looking down on her with concern and a few unknown emotions filling their depths.

"Arianna…" There was a note in Jareth's voice that she hadn't heard before: desperation. He was looking at her so helplessly, his hands floating over her body as he tried to figure out what to do or say and it pulled at Arianna's heart.

"Oh, Jareth…" Pillowing herself against his side and sighing as she felt his arms wrap around her, Arianna trailed her fingers across his chest as she breathed in his scent, a combination of the wool shirt he wore, leather and something that was completely Jareth. "Thank you."

"For what?" One of his hands had gone to her hair and was stroking it, letting the strands slip through his fingers.

"Just being here," Arianna replied, kissing the line of his jaw and frowning when she felt him tense up, "What's wrong?"

"Arianna…" He hesitated, which made her sit up and look at him in surprise. When had Jareth ever hesitated in all the time she knew him, little as that was? "What happened after I came upstairs?"

"Nothing," She twisted away from him and sat on the edge of their bed, her nightmare rearing it's ugly head again, causing her to shiver. Of all the things to ask about, why pick that?

"Okay," He moved slowly, reaching out and gently pulling her back until she rested against his chest, "okay. Can I ask you something else without you moving away?"

Arianna giggled at the petulant tone that Jareth had adapted, before tapping a finger against her lips in consideration, "Hmmm…"

Jareth grinned at her serious expression, which made it disappear as she smiled as well. She loved it when he did that and couldn't help it when her hand reached up of it's own accord and brought Jareth's lips down to meet her own.

He actually responded this time, his hands softly rubbing her arms as she turned her body to press against his; but, when she ran her tongue along his bottom lip in a silent request, he pulled away again.

* * *

"What's wrong, Jareth? Why don't you want to kiss me anymore?" Arianna sounded so hurt that, against his better judgment, against the voice that was yelling this was a bad idea, Jareth pulled her into his arms again.

The kiss wasn't soft and gentle this time; it was hard and passionate, with Jareth barely giving Arianna time to think as he devoured her mouth and his hands worshiped her body.

It wasn't long before Arianna responded, giving back as much as Jareth, hands roaming over his body as well, causing reactions he was trying to postpone and it was with a great force of will that he pulled himself away from Arianna's eager, willing form.

"Because it won't **stay** a kiss," Jareth panted heavily, hovering over Arianna, who had somehow ended spread out across the bed in their silent battle for dominance. She looked so… "We both know it **definitely** won't stay a kiss…"

Arianna's face flushed and the wall paint suddenly became more interesting. After a few minutes she whispered so softly Jareth could barely hear her, "Would that be such a **bad** thing?"

Jareth stared down at her, completely flabbergasted by what she just asked. He was trying to show her she was worth much more than what she could physically give him and she gets hurt by it. Did she really think she was that undesirable?

Apparently so, for his silence had caused tears to pool in her eyes and her hands to push at his chest in a demand for space. He moved, but he pulled her with him and enveloped her in an embrace she could pull out of if she wished.

"No, no it wouldn't be such a bad thing; as a matter of fact, I'm sure it would be **wonderful**," Jareth could **feel **her face get warm against his shirt, "But I want it to happen because we both want it to, because we're both ready for it, not as a means to… to escape."

Arianna made a sound as though to protest, but then just slumped against Jareth's body, suddenly tired. "You're right, I hate it, but you're right. But…"

"But what?" Jareth was surprised when Arianna was the one that tensed and pulled away this time, a small half-smile on her face as she shook her head.

"Nothing, I'm just really tired and I better go back to my own room." She made it off the bed before Jareth was struck by a sudden sense of loss and grabbed her arm.

"Why?"

Arianna's smile grew sad, as she leaned forward and gently kissed Jareth, lingering over the feel of him as he rose up and tried to mold their bodies together.

Once more, it was Arianna that pulled away from the embrace as she whispered softly, "Because it can't **stay** just a kiss," before turning and leaving the room.

Jareth to stare after her before sucking in a quick breath and flopped back onto the bed, wondering at **how** he survived so long with all the trouble he got himself into.

* * *

Mike had left when Arianna asked Jareth if sleeping with her would be a bad thing. He knew if he stayed he would do something he'd regret and he couldn't stand to hurt Arianna anymore.

It would've hurt that she was go eager to be with Jareth if Mike hadn't done what he had only hours before. It seemed that Jareth also knew part of the reason that Arianna was being so demanding was because of what happened.

Mike knew that bludgeoning himself to death wasn't going to help, so he decided to do the next best thing; he went into the West Wing's furthest room.

A few hours later found him sitting in the middle of several empty bottles and he still could see the look of horror and hate Arianna gave him before she ran away from him, like he was one of the world's biggest perverts masquerading as her best friend, still could feel the desperate way she pushed at him before taking the drastic action of biting him…

**Why** was Arianna his friend in the first place? This wasn't the first time he had betrayed her trust. You could discount a few of the times he told her secrets because they were children and he didn't know any better when he was angry, but what about the time her sister had gotten arrested? Or when her brother found out he was going to be a father?

Yet, Arianna kept forgiving him, kept giving him chance after chance after **chance**. It was one of the reasons he had fallen in love with her, her forgiving nature, even when it drove him totally mad some times.

The terrible thing was that he didn't knuw what he was doing until it was too late and couldn't stop himself, despite the fact he wanted to stop as soon as Arianna started to push him away. The really horrible thing was that Arianna probably wouldn't believe him even if he told her.

"_Would that be such a __**bad **__thing?"_

Mike grabbed another bottle and quickly drowned the contents, suddenly feeling sick again. Yet, it was for a completely different reason this time.

He had been so consumed with his own feelings for Arianna, he never noticed that she rarely brought over a boyfriend or went on any dates and how this might be affecting her. Apparently it left her with the assumption that she was completely undesirable and it was his fault. Another thing that he deserved to be punished for.

"Cheers, Jareth," Mike saluted drunkenly, giving the end of his rival's name more of a lisp sound, "For making her happier than I ever could. I'd like to know how you did it…"

A creak behind him announced the arrival of a newcomer to his pain, but Mike was too wrapped up in drowning all his sins to care…

* * *

Jareth waited until he was sure that Arianna was sleeping peacefully in her room before going to look for the little bastard that made her cry. Judgment just couldn't wait until the morning…

He had searched the entirety of the brat's mansion, except the 'West Wing' that Arianna claimed was off-limits. After making three runs of the house, Jareth made his way to the excluded wing, his irritation rising higher with each step.

Jareth knew he couldn't kill the rat; despite what he may have done to Arianna, she would be upset if the slug 'suddenly' died. So that was out… maybe he could hurt the brat really bad, so that he died before they could heal him…

He had made it to the last room in the wing in time to hear the salute in his honor, slurred almost beyond the point of recognition. Intrigued by the change in mood, Jareth creaked open the door to try and figure out what had caused it…

Jareth was apparently in the wine cellar; there were cabinets of the liquor lining three of the walls, with a few barrels sitting along the wall furthest from the door he entered. The brat was sitting in the middle of the floor, a multitude of bottles spread around him.

He appeared to have emptied out an entire liquor cabinet and was working on a second, discarding the bottles as soon as they were empty, even making himself a castle in one corner. It took him a few moments to notice that Jareth was standing a few feet away from him, and he had to squint to even recognize the older man.

"Oh, goody," the brat appeared to be drowning in sarcasm as well, "the hallucinations are starting. I was wondering when you'd show, but why the hell is it **you**?"

"What did you do to Arianna?" Jareth demanded, in no mood to indulge in the brat's self-pity. The little shit could poison himself for all he cared, as long as he paid for frightening Arianna **first**.

The brat dizzily shook his head a few times before taking a swig from the bottle in his hand, realizing that it was empty after a couple of attempts. Tossing it behind him, making Jareth dodge the wildly flying bottle, he reached for another one…

…only to find his way to the cabinet blocked by the body of a highly irate Goblin King.

"**What** did you **do** to Arianna?" Jareth could feel his power building, meager though it may be with him still not fully healed, and entertained the notion of blasting the brat through one wall and out the other.

"Oh, you're going to make me admit what I did?" The brat tried to stand and only made it to his knees before toppling to Jareth's feet. "That's going to be a fun conversation."

Giving the brat a hand-around his neck-Jareth used the bit of magic he had gained from Arianna's care to sober the brat as he hissed, "No, I'm the one that's going to punish you for what you did."


	12. Muddling Through Memories

**Chapter Eleven: Muddling Through Memories**

Jareth's grip on the boy tightened to an almost killing degree before he remembered that he had yet to find out what had happened between the boy and his Mindia. It was only that reason that caused him to loosen his grip and let the boy fall into a painful heap on the floor, causing something to earlier pop or break by the sound of it, Jareth wasn't really caring at the moment; it no longer mattered that Arianna might have had some feelings for the waste of space coughing up the alcohol he consumed at his feet, if he found out that the boy had harmed her, he would die.

After waiting a few minutes for the boy to stop gagging and hold still, Jareth put the toe of his socked foot against the boy's side and pushed him over, so that he was flat on his back looking up at a very angry Goblin King towering over him. Glaring down at the boy, Jareth pointed a finger at him in warning, feeling only a minute amount of satisfaction at the involuntary flinch the boy made. "I'm only going to ask you this once and then I'm going to get... **attentive** with my questioning. I have ways of knowing if you're lying, boy, so don't even bother..."

Jareth then slowly leaned down and looked into the pair of wide, sober eyes that held the naked terror he had placed there, still feeling only a very small dose of satisfaction that he had frightened the child. This boy deserved, and would no doubt get, a far greater amount of terror before the night was out and would learn not to mess with things that belonged to Jareth, Great Goblin King of the Labyrinth, whether the boy knew who he was or not!

_**I don't belong to either of you!**_

Pushing away the stray thought, Jareth kept his gaze on the boy in front of him, who was starting to look a little confused as well as sober. Jareth realized that, while getting lost in his mental musings, he had yet to asked the boy what had happened between him and Arianna that had frightened her so. Now angry at both himself and the child still trembling in front of him, Jareth's hand snaked out and jerked the boy forward by the front of his shirt and hearing it tear at the sudden movement. Ignoring the startled cry from the boy that his action brought, Jareth hissed between clenched teeth, "What did you do to Arianna?"

"I-I did do a-anything... not r-really, at l-least... I-I just k-kissed her... " came the stammered reply, doing nothing to calm Jareth's anger and giving him another reason to strangle the child in front of him. As a matter of fact, the child seemed to tell that Jareth was feeling less than pleased, for he quickly decided to add on details that the King of the Labyrinth could have lived without, proving that while he was observant, the boy still lacked intelligence.

"W-we were just s-sitting there a-and we were t-talking, I r-remember that I-I-I had told her that I lo-ock!" The sound of the word that Jareth had yet to say to Arianna, though he believed he may be guilty of the action, being spoken so casually by the mortal in his grip caused it to tightened once more. After a few deep breaths and the mental picture of Arianna as she asked **him** to sleep with **her**, Jareth's grip loosened a few minute degrees.

"So," That single word caused the boy to flinch and Jareth let a satisfied smile slip across his lips, "You told her your feelings for her and kissed her, something that I could have easily gathered from Arianna after she finished weeping. Now tell me what happened that made her desperate for a physical release from the fear dominating her body, and tell me quickly before I decide that you are not worth keeping around and erase you from her memories!"

The last bit of his sentence ended on a roar and he could feel the boy's Adam's apple bobbing against his hand as he tried to swallow, but Jareth was once more past caring as he stood with the boy's throat in his hand and a crystal in the other, contemplating the thought of just erasing this child from Arianna's thoughts and leaving this bleak, dark tomb with her safely in his arms as he brought her back to the house he would have been happy to forget about only a few minutes ago...

"I don't know what the hell happened!" The voice was horrified, but the fear was not from what Jareth was threatening; the terror that had been there a few moments ago was gone as the boy's hands flew up to wrap around Jareth's wrist in a vain attempt to loosen his hold as his feelings turned inward, as his disgust was pushed inward. "I would never willingly hurt Arianna, but something happened and my body wouldn't let her go, no matter how hard my brain told it to!"

"Did you force yourself on her?" Gone was the angry roar; Jareth's voice was a low, menacing whispered that was more terrifying than his earlier shout and it showed by the loss of control the boy had over his body as it began to tremble so violently that Jareth had a hard time keeping a hold on him. Ignoring the blabbering responses stemming from the boy's lips, Jareth brought their faces only inches apart as his anger made the pupils of his eyes shine, "Did. You. Force. Yourself. On. Her?"

The boy's neck popped as he shook it in denial, disgust filling his features as he choked out, "_**No**_! I did _**not**_! I would never, **ever** do something like... _**that**_ to her! I had no idea what was happening, though.. I had just felt this burning **heat** filling up my head and my grip on her tightened and I couldn't let her go, despite the fact the she kept telling me to release her... I was filled with this overwhelming **need** to make her understand that I wanted her... not loved, **wanted** her, so very badly... It was like my baser instincts just took over... I didn't even realize what I was doing until she bit me..."

It was only the need to hear the story that had kept Jareth from snapping the boy's neck when he first entered this dark room and it was only his explaining it that kept the Goblin King from doing it now; it seemed as if something else had followed him Aboveground and had possessed the boy for a few minutes... It had caused emotional distress to both the boy and to Arianna, not to mention it had made him very angry... That narrowed down the suspects to those very stupid-which was nearly everyone in the Labyrinth-or those that were very insane... Needless to say, the insane ones were also the majority of his subjects in the Labyrinth...

It would be so much easier, not to mention so much better for Arianna and himself, if he just erased this boy from her memories. The only problem would be explaining how she came to be in this house and why they were wearing different clothing... Jareth started spinning the crystal idly across his fingertips and around his hand, trying to figure out how to explain everything as well as to see how far back he would have to go to fully erase the boy.

After a while, a picture started growing in the middle of Jareth's crystal, coming in clearer with each second. He could begin to see forms moving about, but he had a hard time figuring out what was going on or what the people it was showing were doing. So engrossed with the image playing out in his dancing crystal orb, he once more dropped the boy in a heap as he caressed the image in his hands with both palms, almost as if the jewel was Arianna's face...

"She is very young here... maybe even younger than the newest of my goblins." Dropping down to his haunches, Jareth stopped the annoying gagging noises the boy made as he shoved the crystal under his nose, causing the brat to go cross-eyed as he tried to focus on it. "What is this event? What is she doing here? How is this important to the meeting between the two of you? To your friendship? Why this particular moment? What is the key here?"

"That's... her... grandfather's funeral... It was... the first... funeral... she ever went to." The gasping between each word was making it very difficult for Jareth to understand what the boy was trying to say, but the image in the crystal underneath the child's nose seemed to both astonish and steady him, so Jareth held very still and watched as the boy's eyes widened as the picture began to move, almost as if he were looking into a small television. He was so immersed in watching it that he jumped at least a foot when Jareth spoke:

"Tell me."

-0-0-0-

Mike swallowed hard, the lump in his throat obscuring his ability to speak as he stared at the figure of _Arianna __walking __down __the __sidewalk __beside __the __funeral __house, __her __little __eyes __wide __as __she __tried __to __get __her __mother __to __stop __crying._

"_It's __okay, __Mommy, __Grandpa's __just __sleeping. __He'll __be __up __tomorrow!__" _The voice coming from the orb was higher than Arianna's usually was and the face was chubbier, but there was no mistaking the bright sapphire eyes or the fiery hair that only fell past her ears; it was Arianna, thirteen years ago, trying not to cry herself as she talked to her mother.

"Why is she saying this?"

Looking into the mismatched eyes on the other side of the orb and seeing the anger in them fade slightly as confusion took hold, Mike swallowed again to see if the swelling in his throat had died down a bit as he tried to explain something he didn't really understand at the time, didn't fully came to terms with until both he and Arianna were older. "She doesn't really understand that her grandfather isn't going to wake up like he's suppose to, that he'll never wake up again... she didn't understand that he was... well, dead. She told me that she thought that if she said it enough, her mother would believe her and stop crying."

"Her mother's tears are more frightening to her than her grandfather's death?" Jareth seemed completely confused by this, so much that his earlier anger seemed to have disappeared entirely...

Hazel orbs stared as _a __little __girl __tugged __on __her __mother's __arm, __voice __getting __desperate __as __tears __began __to __slip __through..._ They closed as _the __voice __broke __down __altogether __and __demanded __to __know __why __the __man __in __the __box __couldn't __get __up, __why __he __was __making __her __mommy __so __sad..._

"Yes."

There was silence for a few heartbeats, enough for someone to make a wish, to utter a prayer, or swear a promise before Jareth spoke again, his voice almost as sad as the _child __still __weeping __in __the __orb_, almost as if he was as eager as Mike for the image to go away. "You met her then?"

Mike opened his eyes and watched as _the __younger __Arianna __sat __through __a __wake __for __the __man __who __had __been __such __a __large __part __of __her __life, __watched __as __the __little __girl __solemnly __followed __her __mother __home, __tears __dying __as __she __realized __that __no __one __had __the __answer __to __her __questions, __that __no __one __knew __how __to __make __her __mother __happy __again __or __make __her __grandfather __wake __up..._

He watched as the _small__figure__stared__at__the__younger__children__playing__in__the__yard__behind__her__house_, knowing that Arianna had felt like she was being suffocated, pressed in from all sides and had needed to get outside before she started screaming at everyone and everything. He also knew that she had fervently wished that she could have been like them then; ignorant of what was really going on, believing the whole thing was one big party and that nothing was wrong.

"I met her later."

_The __light __seemed __to __race __across __the __sky_ and then Mike saw a _younger __version __of __himself __hiding __in __a __tree __as __the __ten-year-old __Arianna __walked __slowly __across __the __yard, __ignoring __the __names __that __the __other __children __called __her_. Mike still felt disgusted, many years later, at the verbal abuse they threw at Arianna and even wondered were a few of them learned some of the more colorful slurs. His attention was drawn back to the _younger __Arianna __when __she __let __out __a __soft __sigh, __staring __at __the __tree __that __the __younger __Mike __was __in __for __a __few __minutes, __the __younger __version __of __Mike __hanging __tightly __to __its __trunk __as __he __tried __to __hold __absolutely __still._

"_You can come down. They lied, I don't bite." Arianna's statement was said in a completely bland voice; nonetheless, the younger Mike jerked as if she had hit him with a stun gun and let loose a startled yelp of surprise._

Jareth's eyes lifted over the orb and Mike shuffled his feet as he muttered, "It was a rhyme they made up: _She __dresses __in __black __from __her __head __to __her __feets/She's __bites __every __single __thing __that __she __meets/She's __ugly __and __sad/But __don't __make __her __mad/Or __you'll __end __up __in __her __pot,__toot __sweet!__"_

"Disgusting." Mike shared Jareth's sentiment and would have agreed with the other man for the first time if the image in the orb hadn't re-caught his attention...

"_I know that! I'm not scared of you!"_

"_Then why are you still in the tree?"_

_There was a pause, then a sniffle, finally a watery, "I'm stuck."_

_The small Arianna did not laugh, nor did she point out that the younger Mike would not be stuck if he were not in the tree to begin with; she simply sighed again, turned on her heel, and started across the yard again, making the younger Mike stare after her in bewildered shock for a few minutes before crying out and nearly unseating himself from his precarious position._

"_Wait!"_

_The younger Arianna stopped, turned gracefully on her heel once more, and looked back up at the boy stuck in her tree with a look that clearly said she was confused as to why he had called for her to wait."What is it?"_

"_What are you doing?" There was still a small bit of a tremor in the young boy's voice, but he seemed to be getting the hang of talking to the girl that the entire neighborhood said was a weirdo, even looking like he might have enjoyed the experience if he wasn't currently twenty feet off the ground._

"_I'm going to go get my mother."_

_This seemed to distress the younger Mike even more than the fact that he was stuck grasping a flimsy tree branch various feet above the ground; he jerked away from the tree, yelling out a frantic,"No!" as he toppled and almost fell out before he remembered to grab the trunk once more._

_The younger Arianna seemed to be growing upset as well, no doubt from the fact that the child that she was trying to help down from his perch safely would rather risk falling out of the tree he was stuck in than let her get her mother to get him down. "Why not? If you know they're lying about me, then you know that everything they said about her is a lie too! Even if they weren't lying about me, everything they say about my Mommy is a big, fat lie!"_

This was said in such a vehement tone-one that did not normally come from an ten-year-old, much less one that had yet to make any emotion at **all**-that Jareth's brows once more lifted in surprise; but Mike was now looking at the orb as if it held all the secrets of the universe and if he stared long enough he might learn them. He knew that what had been said about Arianna's mother was indeed a lie, but that wasn't what was holding his attention; it was what was coming next and it would be one of his worst memories if he wasn't currently sitting in the middle of his wine cellar with a pissed off **magician **considering erasing him from his best friend's memories with an **actual** crystal ball...

"_Won't she be real mad?"_

_Young Arianna blinked in surprise, almost as if the thought hadn't even occurred to her until the very moment he had said it before stating, "No! She'll be worried that you might be hurt if you fall, maybe even a little upset that you went up our tree and didn't know how to come down, but she won't be mad at you..." Young Arianna's voice trailed off as she seemed to get lost in thought before adding on, "She might make you ask permission next time, so she that she knows to get you down if you get stuck again."_

"_Are you sure she won't be mad? Or yell? Or that it will just make her 'upset' for a little while?" The quiver was back in younger Mike's voice and he was now trembling so hard that leaves were falling down around the trunk of the tree like a greenish hail, "Are you really, really, really, sure she won't be mad at me?"_

_Arianna seemed to realize that she would not be able to convince the boy in the tree that her mother would not be upset with him, no matter how many times she insisted, so she simply turned again and went to prove her words with action. During the few minutes that she was gone, the young boy tried to get down from the tree himself several times, but only made it a few inches before freezing again. He had worked himself into a state of tears as well by the time Arianna came back with her mother, whose resemblance to her daughter was evident even then, despite the difference in the two's age._

"_There he is!"_

"_I'm __sorry!__"_

_Once __more, __the __younger __Mike's __upset __was __so __great __that __he __managed __to __wobble __from __his __position __and __almost __fall, __which __caused __both __woman __to __run __to __the __base __of __the __tree __with __their __arms __out,_although Jareth thought it was extremely doubtful that Arianna would be able to catch the boy at her young age, but had to admit that it was adorable that she had tried...

_Arianna's mother seemed just as startled as her daughter was that the younger Mike was getting into such a fit over having her help him out of a tree, and immediately sought to sooth him while she started to make her way up to him. She paused for only a moment when her first step up the tree and toward the child had caused him to try to curl **into** the bark this, almost as if he were an animal that actually **belonged** up there, making her moments even slower and her voice even softer:_

"_It's alright, you just got stuck, sweetheart, it happens to all of us at one time or another; just hold still and I'll get you down in a few seconds, no problem. After that, you can come inside and call your mommy and daddy to let them know that you're okay, just in case they're looking for you. How does that sound...?" Her mother had made it to the small boy in the tree, a sad frown marring her brow when her hand on the child's head caused him to flinch again, "Or we could have some sandwiches and worry about calling them later... making a couple of phone calls today is starting to sound like a really good idea..."_

"_See? I told you she was nice!" Arianna seemed inadvertently pleased to be proven right as she watched her mother make her ascent up the tree; she stood with her tiny legs spread and her hands on her hips in a miniature pose of triumph, glaring up at the boy as if daring him to defy her now._

_The only response she got was a low whimper as her mother admonished her to not tease the stranger._

-0-0-0-

It was intriguing to watch the myriad of emotions flowing across the boy's face as he watched a younger version of himself get saved by the mother of the woman he would come to love and Jareth was still puzzled as to how this would be pertinent to their friendship, not to mention why his crystal stopped at that particular point in Arianna's life... _**If **__**they **__**did **__**not **__**meet **__**until **__**now, **__**why **__**show **__**me **__**her **__**grandfather's **__**funeral **__**and **__**all **__**the **__**pain **__**she **__**had **__**to **__**suffer **__**through? **__**I'm **__**starting **__**to **__**think **__**my **__**power **__**hasn't **__**fully **__**recovered; **__**for **__**what **__**was **__**the **__**point **__**in **__**that...?**_

Maybe because it was the fact that her clothing was still the dark ensemble that she had worn to the 'funeral', maybe it was the fact that she had barely smiled, laughed, nor made **any** upbeat motions during the entire time she had conversed with the younger boy in the orb, maybe it was the way even her **mother's** face seemed to be a mask, issuing her reassurance in an almost monotone, the only emotion leaking through being when she had seen the way the younger boy had reacted to her touch... Perhaps Arianna's grandfather's death still haunted them, even five years later...

The scenes in the orb baffled him as the children seemed to grow at an astonishing rate and their interactions grew more and more frequent, some even taking place in the middle of the night, right after the boy had climbed through Arianna's window or they had done so together, shushing each other and making much more noise that way than if they had simply crept through. The first time the boy had made his awkward way over her sill had caused Arianna to start and then giggle as she pointed out that he had managed to get over his fear of heights, which caused the boy to turn a rather bright shade of red as he told her to 'hush it.' and give her shoulder an affectionate swat.

_**Is **__**it **__**showing **__**me **__**that **__**this **__**child **__**is **__**the **__**reason **__**that **__**Arianna **__**is **__**not **__**the **__**morose **__**person **__**she **__**was **__**as **__**a **__**young **__**girl?**_The child that was now looking at the orb with equal parts longing and remorse, who had nearly drank himself into a poisonous stupor before Jareth found him because he had unwillingly attacked his friend. _**That **__**he **__**had **__**been **__**the **__**one **__**who **__**pulled **__**her **__**away **__**from **__**the **__**edge **__**and **__**found **__**her **__**smile **__**again? **__**Will **__**erasing **__**him **__**from **__**her **__**memories **__**change **__**her **__**personality **__**that **__**much...?**_ _**How **__**could **__**one **__**person **__**have **__**such **__**a **__**hold **__**on **__**her...?**_

Remembering his interaction with the former owner of Arianna's house, how far he had been willing to go and how well that train wreck had played out, immediately made Jareth retract his thought.

Nonetheless, whether he was her prince or her villain, Jareth wanted so badly to make the alteration between them fade from Arianna's mind, but he knew that any tampering he did would be found out within the hour he made it and there was one thing that Jareth had learned from his past dealings with mortal women(make that one woman): They were never pleased when they found out about his rather artistic way with the mind and the memories held there...

There was also the fact that this boy had not attacked Arianna under his own willpower, that he seemed genuinely upset by the whole thing and probably would have ended up either poisoning himself by the rapid consumption of alcohol, or distancing himself from Arianna when morning's light broke through his museum's windows. As much as Jareth liked the sound of the latter-and had considered helping him with the former-he now understood why Arianna would be upset if the little shite suddenly forgot who she was, or what she meant to him. He sympathized with the boy, knowing what it felt like to be labeled the villain when all you wanted was to be her hero, but still did not like the child and wanted to make what had happen between them erased from the pages of their frustratingly shared history.

_**Maybe **__**I **__**can **__**just **__**get **__**him **__**to **__**forget **__**that **__**he **__**attacked **__**her... **__**even **__**though **__**he **__**deserves **__**to **__**be **__**drowned **__**in **__**the **__**Bog **__**of **__**Eternal **__**Stench **__**for **__**it...!**_Despite knowing that the boy hadn't been the one at fault for the attack and that he even felt sorry for the louse, every time he thought of the stricken look on Arianna's face and the way she had thrown herself at him, Jareth was overcome with the dark urge to shove one of the bottles at his feet in the goblin's excrement's eye... The only thing that calmed him was that when he found whatever was responsible, there wouldn't be much left after he was done and the whole Underground would know that messing with Arianna would not be tolerated!

"You said that you could erase me from her memories, right?" The boy's voice was low and seemed to take an extreme amount of will to just make it past the boy's lips, causing Jareth to once more take another look at the child sitting across from him; the boy's gaze was still locked on the orb, which was now revealing the events that led up to them being here in this house, but his eyes didn't seem to be seeing what was being shown... "Could you erase what had happened between the two of us instead?"

Jareth was almost positive that his brows had just disappeared into his hairline at the boy's statement; hadn't he just been considering that very possibility not two minutes ago, after he realized that to erase the boy would be to erase part of what made Arianna the woman she was? Was he not coming to realization that his tampering would be immediately noticed and that it would have disastrous results? It was also intriguing that the child only asked to erase what had happened from Arianna's mind and not his own as well... "Just from Arianna? Don't you want to forget it happened as well?"

"No, I would rather it not happen **at **_**all**_..." The boy put his hand over the orb, shielding the sight of Arianna trying in vain to pull from his grip, finally unable to watch another minute of what the crystal had to show. "It **did** happen, though, and as much as I want to deny it, part of why it happened was **my** fault. If there were a way you could reorder time so that I could go back and make it **not** happen, I would make you, no matter what the cost was... I'm perfectly fine with remembering my guilt for the rest of my life, but Arianna doesn't deserve to have that memory... doesn't deserve to have that kind of stain on her life again..."

_**What **__**a **__**perfect **__**little **__**martyr...**_ Jareth knew that his thoughts was more an expression of self disgust than anything that had to do with what the boy had to say; when he had been defeated by a certain ebony-haired sorceress, he had not taken it nearly half as well as the boy in front of him did his own failure... A standing order in the Labyrinth that still held to this day was that anyone that even mentioned the only time he was defeated was to be bodily thrown into the Bog of Eternal Stench, or the Oubliette, if that was closer. "Don't be ridiculous, she'll forgive you as soon as we explain to her that your actions were not your own."

The boy smiled at him, a self-hating, sardonic smile that Jareth knew all too well, a smile he had seen many times looking back at him every time he passed a mirror for the first few years after his Labyrinth was beaten, before the child waved away the comment as if it was of no consequence. "Of course she will, she's... wonderful that way, but there will be times when she'll look at me, when I walk up to her from the side or surprise her, and she'll be scared that I might get 'spelled' again. I know Arianna and I know she won't do it on purpose, but there will be times when she'll wonder if she's safe around me... if she'll **ever** be safe around me again..."

Jareth had no rebuttal for that, no quip or statement to cut through the disgust and despair that the child had wrapped himself in after realizing that the man sitting across from him was not going to wipe away one of the worst memories of his life, one of his greatest disappointments... The reason Jareth was unable to do as the boy asked was very simple; he knew that Arianna would tell that her mind had been tampered with, her abilities as a Minida absolutely covered that, and his other reason was a little more personal; looking at the boy wallowing in his depression was almost like looking into a mirror after his own fall from grace and the memories that brought up weren't the most pleasant.

Picking up one of the bottles the boy had been downing like they contained liquid oxygen, Jareth downed the contents, hissing at the taste and the way that it burned down his throat. "Well, if you know her so well, then you no doubt know that **any** kind of alteration I make, she will notice **immediately** and seek out **what** happened and **why**."

The child laughed; a short, sharp laugh that had nothing to do with humor, but made no move to join Jareth in his drinking and instead lifted his hand to see that the crystal had finally turned transparent once more. Removing his grip, he still made no move to join Jareth as he tried to discover why this child like this vile drink so much... The wines and alcohols of the Labyrinth were much more potent; so it was with a single though that Jareth changed the liquor in the bottle to one of his preferred drinks, attention only half on the boy as he started to speak again.

"I guess it's one of those damned if I do, damned if I don't moments... isn't it?" The child leaned back against the wall behind him, his gaze upward as if he could see through the many floors that seperated them from the girl that was the focal point for the entire conversation between the two, the girl that was a major part of one of their lives and was quickly become such for the other. "If I try to fix the problem, I immediately put a big red 'X' on it instead."

"I had a problem like yours once," Jareth stated, the alcohol disapating the last bit of unfriendliness he had toward the boy, making him even go as far as to offer him a bottle with a 'Labyrinth Brew' inside of it and not letting up until the boy took a customary swallow. "I knew this girl that hated having to take care of her baby brother, didn't really like her step-mother all that much, and was just basically unhappy with the way her life was going. Then one day she made a wish, and not just any wish, a wish that directly invoked my name and the creatures I control..."

"Coooooool," Looking over at the male that sat beside him, Jareth saw that the altered liquor had hit him much harder than it had Jareth and from what he could see the boy had only a few mouthfuls. Nevertheless, the boy's face was flushed redder than an apple and he was now looking at Jareth in something close to idolatry as he slurred, "Dush tha' meen youse a 'Ing or sumfink?"

"Yes," Jareth replied, realizing as he did that he was going to tell this child the story of Sarah; whether because the boy was drunk and probably wouldn't remember in the morning or because now that he started he knew he needed to finish it until he made it to the ending, he wasn't sure. Yet, as he sat there on a cold stone floor next to an inebriated man he had considered bodily destroying only a few hours ago, Jareth finally spoke of the girl that he had spent the last few years trying to forget:

"It all started on a rainy night in the house that Arianna now lives in; a girl had finally grown tired of her-at least, what she thought at the time-annoying, screaming baby brother, the demands set upon her by parents she believed to be unreasonable and made a very special wish that would change not only her life, but the life of a King whose will had never before been tested..."

-0-0-0-

_A/N: Whew! That one was a doozy! The interaction between the two and the images the crystal showed just kinda snuck up on me... Originally, I was going to have Mike explain how and why he would never willingly hurt Arianna, but then I thought that Jareth would never believe that and the rest of the chapter just popped into my brain!_

_The ending is also a surprise; I was going to have Jareth have Mike wallow and go back to his room, but then the similarity between them showed up and demanded to be told. Since I have enough plot bunnies bouncing around my head, I decided to listen instead of getting distracted by another story._

_As always, I would love to hear any comments you have on this story, dear reader, for I want to make it something you guys would want to read!_

_See ya on the other side of Chapter Twelve!_


End file.
